Sexuality is an important part of health, quality of life and general well being. Most of the studies have concentrated on male sexual dysfunctions and very few studies are done on female sexual dysfunction. But sexual dysfunction is more prevalent in women than in men. Studies from India have reported prevalence of female sexual dysfunction varies from 33.3% to 73.2%.

To study the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in females.

This is a cross sectional study of descriptive and exploratory design, conducted at JSS Hospital, Mysore. A total of 938 female subjects were taken for the study after they fulfilled inclusion criteria and informed consent was obtained from the patients. The method of sampling has been random. All the study subjects were assessed for psychiatric disorders using MINI PLUS.A detailed socio-demographic data was then obtained from the patients. They were further assessed on Arizona Sexual experience scale to screen for sexual dysfunction. This was followed by detailed evaluation of sexual functioning using Female Sexual Function Questionnaire(SFQ 28). Detailed analyses of all the above was done using the statistical package(SPSS) version 16.0. Ethical committee clearance was obtained from the institution for the above study.

This is the first epidemiological study to report prevalence rate of sexual dysfunction in females in general population. The study revealed that sexual dysfunction is prevalent in 26.97% of female subjects. Lack of desire was the highest reported dysfunction(26.8%) followed by arousal difficulty(22.6%),difficulty in Enjoyment(20.8%),Lubrication difficulties(16.5%),difficulty in reaching Orgasm(15.5%) and Pain during intercouse(10.7%) of the subjects.

Sexual dysfunction is widely prevalent in women in India, suggesting it as a public health concern. Low reporting rates and low treatment rates were identified in the sample. Further, women with sexual disorders should be encourged to seek help and treatment from the professionals.