Prevalence of Sexual Dysfunction Among General Population of Iran: A Systematic Review

Context: Sexual dysfunction is a health problem; but there is no comprehensive review on this subject in Iran.
By reviewing recent studies, this systematic review was performed to estimate the prevalence rate of sexual dysfunction in Iranian general population.
Data Sources: By using related keywords, data were obtained by searching PubMed, Google scholar, Scopus, and 2 Persian databases (IranMedex and Scientific Information Database (SID)). Moreover, hand searching the key journals and reviewing the references of included articles were done.
Study Selection: This study reviewed all available published data on the prevalence of different types of sexual disorders/dysfunctions among Iranian general population until June 2016.
Data Extraction: Data were extracted independently by two observers using a researcher-made checklist.
23 studies were finally evaluated. Most of the articles did not have acceptable standard quality. Most of the reviewed original articles were conducted in females. Besides, it was noted that there was a large diversity among the results of different studies that may be due to not using standard methodologies. The reported ranges of the prevalence rates for total sexual disorders, sexual desire disorder, sexual arousal disorder, and lubrication disorder were estimated to be 19.2 to 77%, 15.4 to 65.8%, 9.8 to 88.3%, and 11.9 to 71.4%, respectively. In addition, the reported prevalence rates for pain disorder, female orgasmic disorder, and sexual dissatisfaction were estimated between 9 to 95.9%, 10.5 to 76%, and 2.4 to 78.5%, respectively.
Despite the large diversity in the findings of this review, it seems that the prevalence of sexual disorders is relatively high among Iranian populations. It is suggested that researchers pay more attention to the duration of evaluation in cross-sectional studies, reporting the response rates, utilizing reliable and valid measures, and applying appropriate sampling methods in order to improve the quality of future research. Educating general population by health professionals who are involved in the treatment of sexual disorders is highly recommended.