A Systematic Review of Vaginismus Prevalence Reports

  Introduction & objectives: Vaginismus is an uncontrolled contraction of the outer third muscle of the vagina that prevents intercourse. Based on the DSM-V-TR system, this disorder is associated with dyspareunia and "Genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder". The purpose of this overview was to summarize population-based studies that reported the prevalence of vaginismus in the general population and to discover the discrepancies between studies. Methods: This systematic review study was conducted on published articles on the prevalence of vaginismus in the world and in English. In selecting the articles, the keywords including Vaginismus, Prevalence, Incidence, Sexual Dysfunction, Genito-Pelvic Pain, Penetration Disorder with all possible combinations were systematically searched in the google scholar, science direct, PubMed, Cochrane databases. No search time limit was set to retrieve all relevant articles published by September 21, 2018. Results: Of the 10 studies, 4 articles reported prevalence of vaginismus in the general population. In selected studies, the incidence of vaginismus in the general population of women was reported 0.4% to 8%. Conclusion: Different prevalence rates have been reported in different studies for vaginismus. In this review study, it was not possible to Meta-analyze and determines the overall prevalence due to the heterogeneity of the prevalence reports and different study methods.