The effect of pregnancy on female sexual function: a cross-sectional study

Objective The current study aims to evaluate the effect of pregnancy in its different trimesters on the female sexual function. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Assiut University Hospital, Assiut, Egypt. Patients and methods We included consecutive healthy sexually active pregnant women aged between 18 and 40 years who had attended the antenatal care clinic of Assiut Women Health Hospital between June 2014 and May 2015. We used the Arabic version of the female sexual function index (FSFI) in the interview to evaluate the sexual functions or problems during the past month. The cutoff score used to indicate sexual dysfunction was 28.1. Results A total of 600 healthy sexually active women were enrolled in this study: 300 women with uncomplicated pregnancy and 300 nonpregnant women. The percentage of women having total female sexual dysfunction during pregnancy was 63.3% compared with 61.2% of nonpregnant women. The percentage of women having total female sexual dysfunction was 70, 44, and 72% in the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively. The second trimester women had the highest total FSFI score, which was not significantly different from the total FSFI score in nonpregnant women (P = 0.922). Conclusion The current study reports no differences in the prevalence and indices of sexual function between pregnant and nonpregnant women. However, the second trimester represents the peak of sexual function throughout pregnancy, and the problem of sexual dysfunction is the highest during the third trimester.