Women’s sexual health in times of COVID-19

Since on March 11, 2020 WHO declared the novel coronavirus disease pandemic, a significant proportion of the world population was either under complete or partial lockdown along with family or even unwanted company. Almost all domains of lives have been affected whilst sexual life through bio-psycho-social factors is not an exception. Aim of the study was to find out impact of COVID-19 restrictions on woman's sexual health. Online survey and qualitative research were conducted from July to October 2020 as a part of a multi-country study I-SHARE (International Sexual Health And REproductive Health survey in the time of COVID-19) and the state research project “Impact of COVID-19 on health care system and public health in Latvia; ways in preparing health sector for future epidemics” (VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011). Data were summarized and analysed using MS Excel and IBM SPSS 26.0. 1173 people living in Latvia submitted an online survey - 82.4% women, 17.4% men. Most respondents (37.8%) noted having sexual relations 2 to 3 times a week and for 58.8% frequency of sexual relations did not change. Decrease in sexual satisfaction was observed among women (16.2% vs 24.3% not satisfied), Friedman test, p<0.001. People who did not have children more often were dissatisfied with their sex life (27.2% vs 20.2%), Cramer's V=0.119, p=0.002. As relationship tension increased, dissatisfaction with sex life increased (Spearman's correlation, rs=0.207, p<0.001) and sex life frequency decreased (Spearman's correlation, rs= 0.254, p <0.001). Women who increased alcohol consumption were less satisfied with their sex life (Cramer's V=0.100, p=0.009). Quantitative survey showed decrease of intimate partner violence (Wilcoxon test, p<0.001), while qualitative research discovered significant increase of violence against women. Sexual life was ongoing also during pandemic time, but many aspects of women’s sexual quality of life and relations were influenced, including increased risks of violence during lockdown.