Japanese scientists conducted a cross-sectional study and found that regular sexual activity in peri- and postmenopausal women is associated with significantly less pain, dryness, and irritation of the vulva in everyday life. The report on the work was published in the journal Menopause.
A decrease in the level of estrogens and other sex hormones in peri- and postmenopause can reduce a woman's life expectancy and significantly reduce the quality of life due to genitourinary menopausal syndrome. It can manifest itself in sexual (affecting sexual life), genital (vulvovaginal) and urinary (from the urinary tract) symptoms. For adequate medical and advisory care for women in this period of life, data on the relationship between these manifestations are necessary.
In 2019, Satoru Takahashi of Nihon University and colleagues collected data for the Genitourinary Menopausal Syndrome Epidemiological Study in Japanese Women (GENJA) using a telephone survey of 4,134 women aged 40–79 years. Vulvovaginal symptoms were assessed using the VSQ questionnaire, and sexual function and symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the FSFI. The current analysis included 911 participants (mean age 53.7 years) who had been sexually active in the previous year. The researchers included women who had been sexually active in the previous three months as the regular group, and those who had been sexually active in the past year but not in the past three months as the infrequent group.
Regular sexual activity was reported by 716 participants (342 aged 40–49, 190 aged 50–59, 114 aged 60–69, and 70 aged 70–79), while rare sexual activity was reported by the remaining 195 (53 aged 40–49, 47 aged 50–59, 49 aged 60–69, and 46 aged 70–79). The average age in the first group was 52.4, and in the second, 58.2 years. In both groups, the participants noted an age-related decrease in sexual desire, arousal, and frequency of orgasm (but not satisfaction with it), while most of the participants did not experience pain during intercourse.
With regard to such symptoms of genitourinary menopausal syndrome as dyspareunia and lack of vaginal lubrication during sexual intercourse, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups up to the age of 70 years and older. At the same time, the levels of sensations of pain, dryness and irritation of the vulva in everyday life were significantly lower in those leading a regular sexual life, and this pattern was observed in all age groups studied.
Thus, regular sexual activity was weakly associated with sexual symptoms of genitourinary menopausal syndrome, but was significantly associated with fewer genital manifestations.
It has previously been shown that the age of menopause is associated with the regularity of sexual activity (the menstrual cycle lasts longer on average with more frequent sex), and genetic variants also play a role.
