Heart ills not to blame for women's poor sex life (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A woman's satisfaction with hersex life appears to have very little to do with the health ofher heart and circulation, according to a new analysis of datafrom the Women's Health Initiative.

"In women this particular aspect of sexual function, whichis decreased sexual satisfaction, did not predictcardiovascular disease," Dr. Jennifer S. McCall-Hosenfeld, thestudy's lead author, told Reuters Health.

In men, erectile dysfunction is a red flag for undiagnosedheart disease, McCall-Hosenfeld of Boston University MedicalCenter and her colleagues note in the American Journal ofMedicine. Given that the same mechanism regulates pelvic bloodflow in both men and women, they write, it is conceivable thatsexual problems in women could also be a marker for poor hearthealth.

To investigate, the researchers analyzed data from 46,525women 50 to 79 years old who were participating in the WHIstudy and who were sexually active. Seventy-seven percent saidthey were satisfied with the sexual activity they engaged in.

Over the 7.8-year follow-up period, there was noassociation between sexual dissatisfaction and the risk ofhaving a heart attack or stroke, or developing high bloodpressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, chest pain, or heartfailure.

However, the women who had reported being unsatisfied withtheir sex life were slightly but significantly more likely atthe study's outset to have peripheral arterial disease, or poorcirculation in their legs and feet. "It's hard to know what tomake of that in the context of largely otherwise negativefindings," McCall-Hosenfeld said.

However, the findings do make it clear that easilymeasurable aspects of women's sexual function are probably notmarkers for cardiovascular health as they are in men, sheadded.

"It may simply be that women and men are just different,"the researcher said. "It may be that vascular function justdoesn't play that big a role in sexual satisfaction."

SOURCE: American Journal of Medicine, April 2008.