Article
Authors: Hasan Efe (Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Capa, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey) , Murat Bozkurt (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kafkas University School of Medicine, Kars, Turkey) , Levent Sahin (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kafkas University School of Medicine, Kars, Turkey) , Mehmet Fırat Mutlu (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Health Research System Hospital Ankara, Turkey) , Murat Api (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zeynep Kamil Maternity and Children's Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey) , Ahmet Çetin (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Haseki Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey)
Aim: To investigate the effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women
Materials and Methods: One thousand twenty six pregnant women were included in the study. The Libido Scoring System, which is a questionnaire consisting of four questions about the frequency of intercourse, the partner initiating the intercourse, orgasm and masturbation status of the pregnant women, was completed by all patients. Both pre-pregnancy and pregnancy sexuality was evaluated independently using this scale.
Results: The frequency of sexual intercourse during pregnancy significantly decreased from 3.07/week to 2.40/week (p<0.05). The masturbation rate during pregnancy was significantly lower than the pre-pregnancy period (3.6% vs 4.9 %, p<0.001). The percentage of pregnant women who never had an orgasm was significantly higher compared to the pre-pregnant period (21.7 % vs 10.8 %, p<0.01). The rates of initiation of sexual intercourse in the pre-pregnancy period by men and by women were 94.5% (970/1026) and 5.3% (54/1026) respectively. In pregnancy period the rates of initiation of sexual intercourse by man and woman were 93.4% (904/968) and 6.6% (64/968) respectively (p=0.0001). The mean libido scores during pregnancy were statistically lower than the pre-pregnancy period (6.38±0.04 vs 7.31±0.04, p<0.001).
Conclusion: Pregnancy has a negative effect on the sexual life of women, but more prospective studies are required to clarify the mechanisms.
Keywords: Pregnancy, coitus, sexual behavior, libido, Turkey
How to Cite: Efe, H. , Bozkurt, M. , Sahin, L. , Mutlu, M. F. , Api, M. & Çetin, A. (2014) “The effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women”, Proceedings in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 4(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.17077/2154-4751.1245