Ricerc@Sapienza

Objective: Genital Sexual Pain (GSP) is a common symptom in reproductive-age women. Although this
complaint could negatively affect the quality of sex life, there is still a lack of awareness about it in the female
population. The objective of the present study was to explore the presence of GSP in reproductive-age
women, the characteristics of pain (duration, location, etiology), the way women deal with the symptom, and
their sexual functioning.
Design and Method: 653 women (mean age 25.7±4.37) were recruited with snowball method. Participants
completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), the Female Sexual
Functioning Index (FSFI), the Female Sexual Distress Scale (FSDS).
Results: 190 women (29.6%) experienced GSP in the last 6 months (mean duration of the symptom
16.87±33.75) located in: vaginal introitus and vestibule (52.1%), lower abdomen/pelvis (44.7%), labia
minora/majora (25.3%), clitoris (8.4%), and perineum/anus (5.3%). Most women (75.3%) did not know the
cause of the pain, and a quarter of them (24.7%) reported a specific diagnosis. 58 out of 190 (30.5%)
considered GSP as a “sexual problem”. 69 (36.31%) and 50 (26.31%) reached clinical scores on FSFI and
FSDS, respectively; only13 (7%) referred to a psycho-sexologist.
Conclusions: GSP was present in almost 30% of women, nevertheless just few of them asked help to a
specialist. There is still a lack of awareness about pain; cultural aspects may lead women to go on with the
symptom increasing the risk of its chronicization and sexuality impairment.