Prevalence of Female Sexual Dysfunction in Urban Chinese Women Based on Cutoff Scores of the Chinese Version of the Female Sexual Function Index: A Preliminary Study

INTRODUCTION: The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) remains the most widely used scale for screening female sexual dysfunction (FSD), and the Chinese Version of the FSFI (CVFSFI) has been validated, but cutoff scores for the CVFSFI to distinguish between cases and noncases have not been developed, so the real prevalence of FSD in China is unknown. AIM: To establish clinical cutoff scores for the CVFSFI and to evaluate the prevalence of FSD in urban Chinese women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and December 2011. A total of 586 (age range of 22-60 years) women participated in the study. Receiving operating characteristic curve and classification and regression trees methodology were combined to establish clinical cutoff scores for the CVFSFI. The cutoff scores we developed were used to determine the prevalence of FSD in urban Chinese women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The prevalence of FSD based on cutoff scores developed herein. RESULTS: The optimal CVFSFI cutoff score for the FSFI total score was 23.45 (sensitivity = 66.9%; specificity = 72.7%; area under curve AUC = 0.75). The cutoff score for each domain was also established as follows: ≤2.7 low desire (sensitivity = 55.2%; specificity = 78.3%; AUC = 0.73); ≤3.15 arousal disorder (sensitivity = 62.1%; specificity = 76.9%; AUC = 0.74); ≤4.05 lubrication disorder (sensitivity = 86.4%; specificity = 69.8%; AUC = 0.85); ≤3.8 orgasm disorder (sensitivity = 83.3%; specificity = 74.2%; AUC = 0.85); and ≤3.8 sexual pain (sensitivity = 65.4%; specificity = 80.6%; AUC = 0.79). Using these cutoff scores, we determined the prevalence for FSD, low desire, arousal disorder, lubrication disorder, orgasm disorder, and sexual pain to be 37.6%, 23.6%, 25.4%, 36.8%, 30.6%, and 21.8% in urban Chinese women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present data may suggest that urban Chinese women might have a lower FSD prevalence than women from some other countries; however, further study to achieve a better understanding of its epidemiology in China is a high necessity.