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Latest Women’s Health News<\/h3>\n
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![\"News](\"https:\/\/media.healthday.com\/Images\/icimages\/33070.jpg\"\/)
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TUESDAY, Sept. 29, 2020<\/p>\n
It’s often thought that older women lose interest in sex, but many women continue to rate sex as important, a new study finds.<\/p>\n
“In contrast to prior literature reporting that the importance of sex decreases as women move through midlife, we found that for a quarter of women, sex remains highly important to them throughout midlife,” said lead author Dr. Holly Thomas, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
More than 3,200 women took part in the Study of Women’s Health<\/a> Across the Nation.<\/p>\n For 45%, sex was important early in midlife and became less so over time, the study found. For 27%, sex remained important throughout midlife and for 28% sex was of low importance.<\/p>\n Black women were more likely to say sex was important throughout midlife, but Chinese and Japanese women were more likely to regard sex as not important or of less importance.<\/p>\n Women with depression<\/a> symptoms also were more likely to regard sex as unimportant. Sexual satisfaction was linked with high levels of importance of sex, as was higher education, the researchers found.<\/p>\n The findings are to be presented Monday at the 2020 virtual meeting of the North American Menopause<\/a> Society (NAMS).<\/p>\n “Studies like these provide valuable insights to health care providers who may otherwise dismiss a woman’s waning sexual desire as a natural part of aging<\/a>,” NAMS medical director Dr. Stephanie Faubion said in a society news release. “Often there are other treatable reasons, such as vaginal dryness<\/a> or depression<\/a>, as to why a woman’s interest in sex may have decreased.”<\/p>\n Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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