Sexual dissatisfaction affecting people with type 2 diabetes

People with type 2 diabetes are being urged to talk more openly about sex after a study showed one-third of those with the condition reported some kind of sexual dissatisfaction.
Dutch research involving more than 700 people aged between 40 and 75 with type 2 diabetes revealed 36.6 per cent were dissatisfied sexually. The issue was more prevalent in men with type 2 diabetes, 41.1 per cent of whom reported problems, compared with 27.8 per cent of women.
The main issue affecting men was erectile dysfunction (71.6 per cent), followed by a loss of libido (26.1 per cent) and delayed ejaculation or inability to ejaculate (20.9 per cent).
For women, more than half (52.8 per cent) said they had a lack of sexual desire, with 45.8 per cent of suffering with lubrication problems and 27.8 per cent reporting painful sex.
Study lead Dr Anne Bijlsma-Rutte, of the department of general practice and elderly care medicine at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, said: “The high prevalence of sexual dysfunction and sexual dissatisfaction in people with [type 2 diabetes] stresses the importance of discussing these issues in diabetes care.
“However, the identification and discussion of sexual problems and eventual care needs currently seems to be insufficient. For example, it was found that 66 per cent of men with [type 2 diabetes] reported to have never been asked about sexual problems by their general practitioner.”
The researchers think screening for screening sexual problems using the Brief Sexual Symptom Checklist (BSSC) problems could help eradicate future issues in older people with type 2 diabetes.
They wrote: “Screening for sexual problems and dissatisfaction is important to facilitate the conversation about sexual problems between the [general practitioner] and the patient, and is expectedly an important first step in improving sexual satisfaction in people with [type 2 diabetes].”
The findings of the study have been published in the Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications.