Thursday 8 January, 2009Hot-blooded women: keep it simmering, toss the pressure cooker

High blood pressure has long been recognized as a risk factor for male sexual dysfunction. Now researchers at the University of Athens have found that high blood pressure, or hypertension, can dampen desire in women, as well.

It appears that sexual dysfunction happens with increasing frequency in older women versus younger women with high blood pressure, and the longer a woman has had hypertension, the more likely she is to experience sexual dysfunction. (Blood pressure that stays above 140/90 for more than six months is considered high.)

More than 20 percent of the general population has hypertension. But, although it definitely affects sexual function in men, no previous research has established a clear relationship between high blood pressure and sexual problems in women.