Introduction: Postmenopausal women are often hesitant to discuss their sexual attitudes and experiences surrounding sexuality with her doctors. Sociocultural, ethnic, and medical background may affect the attitude towards menopause and the expectations regarding sexuality in these women.
Aim: To describe communication about sex between patients and doctors and its relation to extrinsic limiting factors.
Methods: A total of 2,332 women between 45 and 64 years old were involved in this cross-sectional survey. The study used an ad hoc questionnaire covering the demographic and reproductive variables as well as the data related to sexual activity. The Cervantes questionnaire was administered to determine the impact of sexuality on health-related quality of life.
Main outcomes: Patients' responses to anonymous questionnaires or direct interviews.
Results: The percentage of women who recognized having occasional or unconventional partners was twofold higher in the anonymous questionnaire than in the clinical interview. In the medical interview only 15.2% of women recognized that sexuality was not very important compared with more than 40% in the anonymous questionnaire (P < 0.001). The highest concordance between the anonymous questionnaire and the clinical interview was in women who referred to not having any sexual relationship at all (88.07%) whereas in the other conditions concordance was significantly lower (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Self-reported data on sexuality diverge from those derived from a direct interview. The proportion of women with low interest in sexuality was higher in the blind questionnaires.