Sexual desire in men is fairly straightforward. Women are more complicated. A lot of pharmaceutical effort has gone into making sure that men can remain sexually active for as long as they like. (Think Viagra). But there is nothing on the market for women who want to increase their sexuality. Not that pharma isn’t trying, but women — are more complicated.

This week a new study measuring the amount low sexual desire in 2,000 women between the ages of 30 and 70 was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. What’s interesting about this study is not how many women report that they have low sexual desire — 36.2 percent. What’s new is that the researchers measured how distressed women were by their disinterest in sex. That combination of low sexual desire and distress is called hypoactive sexual desire disorder. In other words, low sexual desire is not a problem unless it bothers you.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Procter & Gamble. P&G is in the process of developing a testosterone patch for women that would increase their libido, or sexual desire. Just as in men, testosterone is the hormone that drives sexual desire in women, and it fades with menopause.

“We know libido diminishes with age and within relationships,” said Dr. June LaValleur, an expert on women’s sexuality at the University of Minnesota. She’s also doing research on P&G’s testosterone patch, but was not involved in this study. (Sexual desire also fades in men, she said, “but nobody talks about that.”)

Dr. June LaValleur

Using a proprietary questionaire developed by P&G, the researchers measured how women of different ages were emotionally affected by their disinterest in sex.

(more…)