ABSTRACT
Objectives@#Sexual activity tends to decline with age and is greatly impacted in postmenopausal women. This study aimed to describe the sexual activity pattern among postmenopausal Nigerian women and also detect socio-demographic and menopause-related predictors of their sexual activity. @*Methods@#In this hospital-based cross-sectional study, 357 postmenopausal women between 45–60 years participated. Data was collected using the sexual activity questionnaire and a socio-demographic questionnaire developed by the authors. @*Results@#The prevalence of sexual inactivity among the participants was 60%. This was attributed mainly to the unavailability of male partners (50.5%) and negative menopause-related sociocultural beliefs (23.8%). Among sexually active participants, 83.2% of them reported having pleasurable experiences and 53.8% of them reported no associated sexual discomfort. Only being in a marital relationship was found to be a statistically significant predictor of sexual activity among the participants (regression coefficient = 3.125, degree of freedom = 1, P < 0.0001). @*Conclusions@#We reported a high prevalence of sexual inactivity among the participants; the most important reasons given were the unavailability of their husbands and the belief that sexual intercourse was taboo during the postmenopausal period. The study also provided positive evidence for the importance of marriage for sexual activity among the participants.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence, severity, and symptoms of Distal Symmetrical Polyneuropathy (DSP) among adult patients with diabetes and those without diabetes in a primary care clinic. It was a cross-sectional comparative study involving 72 adults of between 40-60 years of age living with diabetes and 72 age-matched adults without diabetes. DSP was assessed with a biothesiometer device, and data analysis was performed using the SPSS Version 21 statistical software. The overall prevalence of neuropathy among the participants was 68.1% for those living with diabetes and 38.9% for the other group. Furthermore, 22.3% of the diabetes group had severe neuropathy compared with 8.3% of the other group. These differences were found to be statistically significant with p=0.001 (df = 2, X2 = 14.07). We reported higher prevalence and severity of DSP in those living with diabetes. We also found significant association between high VPT (≥25V) and presence of neuropathic symptoms thereby enhancing the use of the biothesiometer device in the diagnosis of adults with DSP in the primary care setting.