Sexual Dissatisfaction in Older Women Not Linked to
Cardiovascular Disease
Sexual dysfunction in some older men indicates
cardiovascular disease
April
3, 2008 – Although sexual dysfunction in some
men indicates cardiovascular disease, researchers find this is not the
case among postmenopausal sexually active females who were dissatisfied
with their sexual activity.
Participants were sexually active postmenopausal
women aged 50 to 79 years, recruited at 40 clinical centers throughout
the United States and followed for 8-12 years.
There were over 93,000 women in this Women’s Health
Initiative Observational Study included by the researchers from
Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC)
and collaborators nationwide.
Based on responses to a baseline survey, subjects
were classified as sexually satisfied or dissatisfied.
They identified cardiovascular disease as a
self-reported history of acute myocardial infarction, stroke, or
coronary revascularization procedure. Related cardiovascular problems,
including congestive heart failure, peripheral arterial disease and
angina were also examined.
Modest links to arterial disease
According to researchers, there was a modest
association between being dissatisfied with sexual activity and having
peripheral arterial disease, and angina was decreased among those
dissatisfied with sexual activity. However, there was no association
between sexual dissatisfaction and the presence of any other form of
cardiovascular disease including heart attack or stroke.
Writing in the article in the April 2008 issue of
The American Journal of Medicine, Jennifer McCall-Hosenfeld, MD, MSc, a
fellow in the Department of General Internal Medicine at BMC and Women’s
Health at BUSM, states, “In men, erectile dysfunction is a manifestation
of cardiovascular disease, and can predict the development of adverse
cardiovascular outcomes such as heart attack.
“In our study, we used decreased sexual
satisfaction as a rough proxy measure for sexual dysfunction, and
controlled for lifestyle issues and other factors that might impact
sexual satisfaction. We did not find that sexual satisfaction predicted
cardiovascular disease in the future.”
Editor’s Notes:
The article is “Sexual Satisfaction and
Cardiovascular Disease: The Women’s Health Initiative” by Jennifer S.
McCall-Hosenfeld, MD, MSc, Karen M. Freund, MD, MPH, Claudine Legault,
PhD, Sarah Jaramillo, MS, Barbara B. Cochrane, PhD, RN, JoAnn E. Manson,
MD, DPH, Nanette K. Wenger, MD, Charles B. Eaton, MD, S. Gene McNeeley,
MD, Beatriz L. Rodriguez, MD, PhD, Denise Bonds, MD, MPH. It appears in
The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 121, Issue 4 (April 2008)
published by Elsevier.
The Women’s Health Initiative program was funded by
the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes
of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Jennifer
McCall-Hosenfeld was supported by a Department of Veterans Affairs
Special Fellowship in the Health Issues of Women Veterans.
April
3, 2008 – Although sexual dysfunction in some
men indicates cardiovascular disease, researchers find this is not the
case among postmenopausal sexually active females who were dissatisfied
with their sexual activity.