Female Sexual Dysfunction and Timed Intercourse: A Prospective Study of 105 Infertile Women

Abstract

Introduction: Timed intercourse (TI) based on ovulation monitoring is an effective and common choice for treatment of infertility. However, TI related female sexual dysfunction remains to be elucidated. Method and Material: This was a prospective study and 105 infertile women were included using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) to assess their sexual function in general sexual life (GSL) and TI cycle. Results: The mean age of the patients was 29.4 ± 3.4 years and the duration of infertility was 1.8 ± 0.5 years. The mean score of FSFI was 25.2 in GSL cycle and 24.5 in TI cycle (p = 0.008). Scores of 5 out of 6 domains of FSFI during GSL cycle were significantly higher than the counterparts during TI cycle. Female sexual function was related to stress, which mostly came from patients themselves and parents. The stronger the stress was, the more domains of FSFI were affected. Conclusion: Infertility is an important factor affecting female sexual function, especially TI condition reduced FSFI score in several domains, and this may be related to infertile stress.

Concerns of Infertile Women Candidates for Egg Donation: A Qualitative Study

“…It is important to identify the concerns of these women, which may have serious consequences on their reproductive health, to design proper interventions (74). Therefore, it is necessary to address reproductive health concerns and needs of the infertile women who are candidates for oocyte donation using modern and valid Persian questionnaires (75) and counseling (76).…”

Timed intercourse in infertile couples doing more harm than benefits in terms of sexual dysfunction and time to pregnancy: a cohort study

“…For both the aspects, the effects of TI were directly compared with a control group, unlike previous studies. 4,6,7,8,9,21,29,30,31,32 Although two papers compared TI with RI, one 22 concentrated mainly on FSD and another 33 mainly on the TTP.…”

“…Published studies showing the effects of TI on SD did not take both the partners into consideration. 7,9,21,22 In contrast, our study analyzed different aspects of sexual functions in both men and women using structured definitions. We preferred the ASEX because it was less time-consuming, easily understandable, and useful to diagnose SD in a bimodal scale in the clinical set up with minimum embarrassment for the individuals.…”

“…9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 TI adds to SD in both the partners by forcing them to engage in sex around the fertile period. 7,9,13,21,22,23 In contrast, regular intercourse (RI) two to three times a week had been recommended for the couples trying to conceive. 12,24 This would translate into one to two episodes of SI in the fertile window.…”

“…3,4,24,27,28 Studies directly comparing TI with RI were sparse. 22,33 Many studies showed that TI increased the risk of SD, but they did not weigh against RI. 7,9,21 Even the Cochrane review did not mention SD as the "adverse effects" of TI.…”