In all over 900 women took part in the study

A study shows that women that give birth normally have a greater chance of suffering from female sexual dysfunction when compared to those women who have their children with a planned cesarean section.

Dr. Irwin Goldstein who is director of sexual medicine at the San Diego Alvarado Hospital as well as the editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine explained that this study highlighted an important female health issue which has not been studied enough. It has often been speculated upon that normal vaginal birth changes the muscles in the pelvic floor as well as the intra-pelvic organs which causes female sexual dysfunction and this study adds weight to that speculation.

In all over 900 women took part in the study along with their husbands who were also questioned about their sexual function. The researchers used the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) for the women and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) for the men in order to monitor changes in both parties.

All of the women who took part in the study were healthy first time mothers and they were divided into different groups spending on method of the delivery. It was clearly seen that women who had planned caesarean section births scored higher on the FSFI than those mothers who had vaginal births or emergency cesarean section. It was also noted that there were significant differences in the IIEF for the men too depending on the method of delivery that their wives experienced.

This study hopefully will lead to further research into the relative sexual function of the men and women after child birth. Sexual dysfunction, whether male or female, places a great amount of stress on a relationship and the more the doctors know about how to deal with it the better.