538 IJSR - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Volume : 5 | Issue : 2 | February 2016 • ISSN No 2277 - 8179 Research Paper Medical Science Debashish Parmar Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Nagpur. Suresh Ughade Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Nagpur. * Sonal Deshpande Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Nagpur. * Corresponding Author Uday Narlawar Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Nagpur. Pattern of Sexual Problems Amongst Male Attendees at Sex and Marriage Counselling Clinic of A Tertiary Care Centre: A Cross- Sectional Study KEYWORDS : sexual problem, sex and marriage counseling, erectile dysfunction ABSTRACT Sexual problems although highly prevalent psychological disorders but has always been a neglected entity in clinical practice. With a view of scant data available about the nature and extent of sexual problem in central India present study was carried out to assess the nature of sexual disorders and its relation with some determinants like age, marital status, co- morbidities and substance abuse. Cross sectional study was conducted at Sex and Marriage Counselling Clinic of a Tertiary Care Centre dur- ing January to December 2014 among 204 consenting male patients. Mean age (+S.D) of the patients was 35.23 (+11.71) years. Most common sexual problem amongst the study subjects was erectile dysfunction 111 (54.42%) followed by premature ejaculation 55 (26.96%). Proportion of all the sexual problems increased with increasing age. Signiicantly higher proportion of ED, PME and ED+ PME was found among mar- ried men as compared to NE and Dhat Syndrome. Co-morbidities in the form of Hypertension 41 (19.52%), diabetes mellitus 17 (7.625), IHD 5(2.38%), depression 12 (5.71%) was found among the patients. Among the 204 patients 83 (40.69%) gave history of past or current substance abuse. Erectile dysfunction was the commonest problem encountered among substance users. INTRODUCTION Human sexuality is a complex process which is coordinated by the neurologic, vascular and endocrine systems. In addition to these, interpersonal relationships between the partners, societal and religious attitude, socio-demographic conditions have im- plications in normal sexual activity, a breakdown in any of these area leads to sexual dysfunction 1 . Sexual problems although highly prevalent psychological disorders but has always been a neglected entity in clinical practice. Overall, studies conducted worldwide have reported the preva- lence of sexual disorders in the range of 10-25% among men and 25-64% among women 2 . However reliable data regarding magni- tude of sexual problems is still lacking in developing nations like India, since most of the cases remain undetected due to fear, im- proper and inappropriate knowledge, large pool of patients visit- ing to quacks and conservative nature of society. Studies regarding prevalence of sexual problems done in India have varied indings. Some studies reported the most prevalent sexual problem to be premature ejaculation 3 whereas other has reported erectile dys- function and Dhat syndrome 4 to be major prevalent problem. With a view of scant data available about the nature and extent of sexual problem more so in central India, present study was carried out to assess the nature of sexual disorders and its rela- tion with some determinants like age, marital status, co-morbid- ities and substance abuse. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Present cross-sectional study was conducted at Sex and Mar- riage Counselling Clinic of a Tertiary Care Centre. Of total 287 patients who attended the clinic between the period of Janu- ary 2014 to December 2014, 204 consenting male patients with sexual problems were included in the study. A predesigned struc- tured proforma was used to record socio-demographic data, na- ture of the sexual problem, history regarding past and presenting medical, psychiatric, surgical illness and substance abuse. Appropriate clinical examination and necessary investigations were done. Patient with suspected medical, psychiatric or sur- gical co-morbid conditions were referred to respective depart- ments and feedback were recorded. Data collected was entered in MS Excel and analyzed using Epi Info 7. Following deinitions were used for the purpose of study. Erectile Dysfunction, or ED, is deined by the DSM-IV as a per- sistent or recurrent inability to attain or maintain an adequate erection until completion of the sexual activity 5 . Premature Ejaculation or PME is deined by the DSM-IV as the persistent or recurrent onset of orgasm and ejaculation with minimal sexual stimulation before, on, or shortly after penetra- tion and before the person wishes it 5 . Dhat Syndrome a term given by Wig NN is characterized by vague somatic symptoms and guilt attributed to semen loss through nocturnal emissions, urine and masturbation though there is no evidence of loss of semen 6 . RESULTS: Mean age (+S.D) of the patients was 35.23 (+11.71) years; with range of 15 to 80 years. More than half, 121 (59.31%) were Hindu and 63 (30.89%) were Buddhist by religion. Majority 161 (78.92%) were married. Most of them 187 (91.66%) were urban residents. More than half i.e. 131 (64.21%) had education of high school and above, 136 (66.66%) were skilled worker and 22 (10.78%) were students. Maximum i.e. 144 (70.58%) belonged to upper middle and lower middle class by socioeconomic status. FIGURE - 1 TYPES OF SEXUAL PROBLEMS