EVALUATION OF SEXUAL DISORDERS IN DIABETIC WOMEN BEFORE MENOPAUSE: ASSOCIATED FACTORS AND DETERMINATING THRESHOLDS.

AIM: To determine associated factors of sexual dysfunction (SD) in sexually active premenopausal diabetic women, and to evaluate the performance of the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) items in screening and diagnosis of SD using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study including sexually active, premenopausal diabetic women followed at the National Institute of Nutrition of Tunis from May 2023 to October 2023. SD was assessed using the FSFI. ROC curves were used to determine significant thresholds of each item of the score for the screening of SD.

RESULTS

A total of 147 patients were included (mean age: 40.14 years ± 6.29), of whom 52.4% had type 2 diabetes, which had been present for an average of 14.38 ± 6.67 years. The prevalence of SD was found to be 51%. Factors associated with SD included sedentary lifestyle (p=0.001), peripheral arterial disease (p=0.04), duration of diabetes (p=0.018) and history of fetal or neonatal loss (p<0.001). After multivariate analysis, independent factors associated with SD included only the history of fetal or neonatal loss (OR=0.06; p=0.002). The satisfaction domain had the highest diagnostic value for SD, with an area under the curve of 0.930, p<0.001.

CONCLUSION

More than half of diabetic women suffer from SD. Both organic and psychological factors contribute to this issue. Screening for this complication in daily practice is mandatory to ensure a healthy quality of sexual life.