Room 517-D | English Speaking Podium Session Friday, July 15, 2005 Time: 8:30 AM-10:30 AM |
Role of Organs of Sense on Sexual Desire (this abstract is a part of EFS session 'Psychological aspects of sexual dysfunctions in the couple' . The reference number assigned to it is BON-1104-883076.
Caruso, Salvatore*,1, 1, 1, Intelisano, Giorgia2, 2, Di Mari, Lucia, Raciti, Daniela, Mirabella, Daniela, Agnello, Carmela , 1 Detp Microbiological and Gynecological Science, University of Catania, Catania, Italy2 Research Group for Sexology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
ABSTRACT- Objective:to understand if there could be any interaction between cyclic variation of olfactory and auditory thresholds and cyclic sexual arousability during menstrual cyle Methods: 60 premenopausal women (mean age 28.2±4.1 years, range18-37)were enrolled. During pre-screening, each woman underwent sexual history interview, and the Personal Experiences Questionnaire (PEQ) was self-administrated. By a prospective study, we measured the olfactometric and audiometric variations,by olfactometry and auditory evoked potentials (AEP), during the follicular, periovular and luteal phases of one ovulatory menstrual cycle confirmed by sonografy and serum progesterone concentrations, and during third month of pill intake; and contemporarily evaluated sexual behaviour by PEQ. Furthermore, each subject received a diary in which to record daily sexual events. Pill users were considered as a control group. The second control group was constituted by 18 premenopausal women with menstrual cycle without ovulation, that had been excluded from this study during enrolment. Results: Firstly, olfactometry showed a higher sensitivity during the follicular and periovular phases than during the luteal phase. Secondly, the wave latencies and inter-peak intervals of ABR obtained by AEP had shorter values during the periovular phase with respect to the follicular and luteal phases. Third, olfactometric thresholds during contraceptive use were similar to those of the luteal phase, while the ABR results in pill users were similar to those of both the luteal and follicular phases. Finally, subjects with anovulatory menstrual cycle had olfactometric and audiometric outcomes similar to those of women on oral contraceptive. Interestingly, sexual activity showed to be cyclic in women with ovulatory menstrual cycle with respect to women on oral contraceptive and women with anovulatory menstrual cycle. By PEQ, desire, arousal and enjoyment improved during the periovular phase with respect to (a)each other phase (p<.05); (b) pill usage (p<.05); (c) and each phase of women with anovulatory menstrual cycle (p<.05). Moreover, orgasm and satisfaction with frequency of sexual activity increased during periovular phase of women with ovulatory menstrual cycle with respect to the pill users alone (p<.05). Comparing the cyclic variations of both olfactometric and audiometric values obtained during each phase of ovulatory and anovulatory menstrual cycle and during pill use with each item of PEQ, we showed an interesting statistically significant linear correlation of both auditory brainstem response and olfactory thresholds with desire, arousal, orgasm, enjoyment and satisfaction with frequency of sexual activity (p<.05). Mainly, both sensitivity and sexual activity seem to be increased in a linear correlation manner during periovular phase of ovulatory menstrual cycle, with respect to the other menstrual phases or in both control groups. Comments: From our study, it seems to be an interaction among sensitivity, sexual activity and menstrual cycle in human. These physiological sensorial changes occurring during menstrual cycle may modulate the sexual behaviour, often acting unconsciously.
Key words: auditory brainstem response, olfactory thresholds, female sexuality, menstrual cycle, oral contraception