Assessing female sexual dysfunction in epidemiological studies: Why is it necessary to measure both low sexual function and sexually-related distress?

Abstract

Low sexual function and sexually-related distress need to be present for a diagnosis of female sexual dysfunction. However, studies that have used sets of simple questions that do not take sexual distress into account have been widely cited. Recent research has demonstrated that studies that use simple sets of questions can produce substantially different results from studies that use multi-item, validated instruments to investigate both low sexual function and sexual distress. © CSIRO 2008.