The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): a multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of female sexual function

Measurement of male and female sexual dysfunction

Measurement approaches for male and female sexual dysfunction have proliferated in recent years, spurred in large part by the development of new treatments for male and female dysfunction. In the past, physiologic measures of penile tumescence and rigidity in males, and vaginal blood flow in females, played an important role in clinical and research studies. More recently, a variety of brief, self-report measures have been developed for assessing male and female function across a variety of sexual domains (eg, desire, arousal, orgasm, satisfaction). These self-report measures have been shown to have a high degree of reliability and validity, and are sensitive to treatment interventions. Accordingly, they are widely employed in clinical trials. Daily diary or sexual event logs have similarly been developed for this purpose. Self-report measures have been used for clinical screening purposes and for diagnostic assessment of sexual function in a number of studies. Finally, several disease-specific quality of life and treatment satisfaction measures have been developed, which are currently in widespread use in clinical trials of sexual dysfunction.

Prevalence of and recent developments in female sexual dysfunction

In the past few years, female sexual dysfunction (FSD) has attracted significant attention. The main reason for this was the successful introduction of oral pharmacotherapy for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction. This raised the question of whether a vascular medication such as sildenafil would be efficacious for female sexual dysfunction. Once triggered, female sexual dysfunction research went even further and raised more questions. This article addresses the prevalence of FSD and the most recent developments in this field.