The effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women

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 prepregnancy 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 prepregnancy 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