Sexual disorders: demographic and diagnostic profile during one year of a multidisciplinary project

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Sexual disorders: demographic and diagnostic profile during one year of a multidisciplinary project

Carmita Helena Najjar Abdo; Sérgio Ricardo Campanella de Oliveira

Psychiatric Institute of the College of Medicine of the University of São Paulo - São Paulo, Brazil

^{Address for correspondence}

ABSTRACT

Taking into consideration a study published 10 years ago on sexual disturbances of students at the University of São Paulo, the importance of the subject is discussed, along with the creation in 1993 of the Sexuality Project at the university hospital of the University of São Paulo School of Medicine. In its first year, this multidisciplinary project attended 140 patients with sexual dysfunctions (associated or not to other clinical manifestations); the majority were younger than 60 years-old, and 80 percent were male.

Uniterms: Sexuality. Sexual disorders. Multidisciplinary assistance. Demographic profile. Diagnosis.

RESUMO

Através da reapresentação de levantamento das distúrbios sexuais de alunos da Universidade de São Paulo - publicado há dez anos - discute-se a importância do assunto e a criação do Projeto Sexualidade do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. Este, de caráter multidisciplinar, atendeu, no primeiro ano, a 140 pacientes, a maioria abaixo de 60 anos e com disfunções sexuais (associadas ou não a outras manifestações clínicas). Do total, 80% eram do sexo masculino.

Just over ten years ago, one of us published in this journal the results of a diagnostic study done in conjunction with the HSAC - Health and Social Assistance Coordination of the University of São Paulo.¹ We observed that 11(10.2 percent) of 107 undergraduates were attended at the Service of Mental Health and Hygiene (SMHH) of HSAC during 1983 due to sexual disorders,²classified as: premature ejaculation (5 students); impotence (3 students); frigidity (1); homosexuality (1); and bisexuality (1).

Ten of these students were male, although 58 of the total of 107 patients were female and 49 were male.One bisexual student, who related equally to both sexes, was upset with this condition, although it was not in the Disease Classification. All 11 students were not married and their ages varied from 19 to 34 years.This data formed a larger sexuality study among students of the University of São Paulo enrolled in the SMHH from 1977 to 1994.³

Due to the importance of this issue and its repercussion, we created in 1993 the SEXUALITY PROJECT (PRO-SEX), in the Psychiatric Institute of the University Hospital of the College of Medicine of the University of São Paulo.

It is a multidisciplinary team formed in the Psychiatric Institute by psychiatrists, urologists, gynecologists, and psychologists veered to the assistance, teaching and research of sexuality disorders.

This report wishes to present a demographic and diagnostic profile of the population attended by the PRO-SEX during its first year of existence (November 1993 - November 1994).

Other aspects and a detailed description of the Project will be published in the future.⁴

These are the results: 176 patients went through initial screening, all from the state of São Paulo ,and 140 began treatment. One-hundred and sixteen (82.9 percent) patients were male and 24 (10.1 percent) were female.

The age of males varied from 18 to 75 years (mean = 37.8), while the age of females varied from 19 to 67 years (mean = 35.2 years). In both groups, most of the patients seeking treatment were under 60 years (male = 92.2 percent, female = 91.6 poercent).

Forty-nine men (42.2 percent of the male group) and 13 (54.2 percent) women were married; 54 (46.6 percent) men and 9 (37.4 percent) were single; 4 (3.4 percent) men were widowers and 1 (3.4 percent) woman was a widow; 9 (7.8 percent) men and 1 (4.2 percent) woman was unmarried.

Four (2.9 percent) of the 140 patients attended, all male, had a diagnosed organic sexual disorder; erection disorders due to peripheral circulation involvement, caused by diabetes mellitus (2 cases); and erection disorders due to atherosclerosis (2 cases). Clinical manifestations for males and female are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

This data shows the importance of and urgency for courses on sexuality (both normal and pathologic) in our medical schools. One of the objectives of the SEXUALITY PROJECT is to offer doctors from several areas a broader view of mental and behavior disorders, than is given by the International Disease Classification.⁵

• 1. Abdo CHN. Sexualidade: relevância no meio universitário. Rev Paul Med 1984;102(6):282.
• ²
  OMS - Manual da Classificação Estatística Internacional de Doenças, Lesões e Causas de Óbitos (revisão de 1975). Ed. Independência Brasília, 1985.
• 3 Abdo CHN. Aspectos da Sexualidade de uma população universitária. Tese de Doutoramento, Departamento de Psiquiatria - FMUSP, São Paulo 1989.
• 4. Abdo CHN & Oliveira SRC. O primeiro ano do Projeto Sexualidade (em elaboração).
• ⁵
  OMS - Classificação de Transtornos Mentais e de Comportamento da CID-10: descrições clínicas e diretrizes diagnósticas. Porto Alegre: Artes Medicas, 1993.

Adress for correspondence:

Carmita Helena Najjar Abdo

R. Pascal, 181, apto. 41

São Paulo/SP - Brasil - CEP 04616-001

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 Nov 2008
• Date of issue
  Oct 1996