Researcher David Schwartz, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati who helped conduct the survey said that men are aware of the treatment but sexual problems trouble more women than men as they age and they're less prepared to deal with changes surrounding it.
Researchers conducted an online survey of 705 adults, about half men and half women, between ages 50 and 70. The questionnaire found 71 percent believed sex lives decline as they age. Most blamed men's difficulties. However, 67 percent of women reported pain and discomfort that interfered with intimacy, compared with 59 percent of men who had sexual problems.
Sixty-five percent of women who experienced sexual symptoms related to menopause reported they had not anticipated such symptoms. This compares to 51 percent of the men surveyed.
The survey was funded by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Duramed unit that manufactures women's birth control and health care products, including estrogen for symptoms linked to painful sex. The study is presented Thursday at the North America Menopause Society meeting in Orlando, Florida.
