Assessment of Sexual Function in Infertile Women in a Gynecological Care Setting.

INTRODUCTION: Infertility has a high prevalence worldwide. There is also a high prevalence of sexual problems, mainly in gynecological care settings, but many women are unlikely to discuss sexual problems with their physicians. AIMS: To verify how second-year gynecology residents (SGRs) assess the sexual function of infertile women who are undergoing assisted reproductive techniques (ART) at a single infertility tertiary care center in Brazil. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Medical records of patients. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study evaluated all medical records of women who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) between January 2011 and December 2012 at a fertility clinic of the Hospital das Clinicas of Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo. RESULTS: A total of 616 women underwent ART during the study period. The mean patient age was 34.5 ± 4.4 years, mean weight was 65.6 ± 12.4 kg, mean height was 163 ± 0.6 cm, and mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.8 ± 4.3 kg/m(2). We classified the methods that medical residents used to assess the sexual frequency of these women as a numerical method, by categorization, or none (no assessment). A total of 26.7% (n = 166) of the SGRs did not assess female sexual function and 26.2% (n = 163) made assessments using categorization. SGRs who used a numerical method rather than categorization to classify the sexual frequency of their female patients were more likely to record answers to other questions on sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm. CONCLUSION: SGRs typically do not assess female sexual function in infertile couples. There was considerable heterogeneity among SGRs in their assessment of coital frequency and female sexual function.