A study led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and published in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that only 12 percent of women suffering from a low sex drive are actually bothered by the problem, while about 40 percent of women who report having sexual problems don’t do anything about it.

Results from the Preside survey, the largest study assessing the prevalence of female sexual problems, show that low sexual desire is the most commonly reported sexual problem in women aged 18 or older.

"Sexual problems are common in women, but problems associated with personal distress, those which are truly bothersome and affect a woman's quality of life, are much less frequent." said study leader, Dr. Jan Shifren, of Massachusetts General's Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, in a news release. "For a sexual concern to be considered a medical problem, it must be associated with distress, so it's important to assess this in both research studies and patient care."

According to the National Institutes of Health, sexual dysfunction can be classified as a lack of sexual desire, an inability to become aroused, and a lack of orgasm or painful intercourse.  Low sexual desire is the most commonly reported sexual problem in women aged 18 or older, the study found.

In the Preside survey of 31,581 women across the U.S. aged 18 to 102, 44 percent reported having sexual problems, the most common being low desire for sex. The findings mirrored those of many other surveys, but the most curious thing is that of those women reporting sexual problems, only 12 percent say they are actually bothered by it. Moreover Women aged 45 to 64 were most likely to report a distressing sexual problem (14.8 %), followed by those aged 18 to 44 (10.8%) and those older than 64 (8.9%).

Most of the women interviewed (70%) had a current partner, 62% were premenopausal, and 72% reported at least one chronic medical condition other than depression. Although the prevalence of sexual problems was highest in the oldest age group, the prevalence of distressing sexual problems was lowest (8.9%). Overall, 38.7%, 26.1%, and 20.5% reported having low levels of sexual desire, low arousal, and orgasm difficulties, respectively. Only 2.3% said they had all three. Moreover women with depression were more than twice as likely to report distress over any type of sexual problem as those not suffering from depression.

As female sexual dysfunction is characterized by sexual problems associated with personal distress, two validated instruments were used. The Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire, a 14-item validated tool, was used to capture a respondent's self-evaluation of current sexual behaviors and problems using a five-point scale. The Female Sexual Distress Scale, a 12-item validated tool, measures a woman's distress about her sex life, assesses guilt, frustration, stress, worry, anger, embarrassment, and unhappiness during the past 30 days.

In an accompanying editorial, Ingrid Nygaard, M.D., of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, lamented the over-labeling of certain symptoms as problems that need to be treated under all circumstances.