AACE MENA 2025-Understanding Sexual Dysfunction in Women with Obesity and Diabetes

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This presentation addresses sexual dysfunction in women with obesity and diabetes, highlighting its prevalence and under-discussion in clinical settings. Women with diabetes experience higher rates of sexual dysfunction linked to glycemic control, diabetes complications, psychological distress, and menopausal symptoms. Lifestyle interventions, including Mediterranean diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and glycemic control, improve sexual function. Women with obesity face sexual dysfunction influenced indirectly by comorbidities and psychosocial factors like anxiety and body image, with weight loss and bariatric surgery showing improvements, though mental health and relationship factors also play roles. Emerging concerns exist about GLP-1 receptor agonists potentially impairing sexual desire due to neurochemical effects. Physicians should actively initiate discussions about sexual health, using straightforward, normalized screening questions. Management involves lifestyle modification, treatment of genitourinary syndrome of menopause, psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy such as flibanserin, bremelanotide, and off-label testosterone—though testosterone use requires careful monitoring. Overall, sexual health is vital to women's quality of life, necessitating comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment and individualized treatment.

Keywords

sexual dysfunction

women with obesity

diabetes

lifestyle interventions

psychosocial factors

pharmacotherapy