Register for NIH Grant Money to Fund Boston University Study
Female Sexual DysfunctionNovember 9, 2000
(NewsRx.com) -- Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) recently received a four-year U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for more than $1 million to investigate female sexual arousal dysfunction (FSAD).
This research is funded for the first time by NIH and considered a breakthrough in recognizing FSAD as a scientific medical field.
FSAD is a persistent or recurrent inability to attain, or to maintain until completion of the sexual activity, an adequate lubrication-swelling response of sexual excitement. An estimated 9.7 million self-reported complaints suggest that "sexual arousal disorder" is a common and significant women's health concern.
Focusing attention on investigating physiological and biochemical mechanisms, the NIH grant will allow further study of the basic physiologic mechanisms of vaginal and clitoral arousal. The data will provide the conceptual groundwork for potential development of therapeutic agents (vasodilators) for more effective clinical management of women with sexual arousal disorder.
"Male erectile dysfunction has been studied for the past 20 years; female sexual arousal disorder was never an issue discussed in scientific circles, and almost considered a taboo because no one wanted to talk about it," says Abdulmaged Traish, PhD, professor of biochemistry and urology, director of Urology Research at Boston University School of Medicine, and the principle investigator of the FSAD study. "This is a new and emerging field of female sexual health, and we're fortunate to be one of the first institutions to begin studying this disorder at the basic science level and at the clinical level, as well as the first to be recognized by the NIH."
"We have been researching female sexual dysfunction from a clinical perspective for the last two years, and have evaluated more than 200 women with sexual dysfunction," says Irwin Goldstein, MD, professor of urology at Boston University School of Medicine, and co-investigator of the FSAD study. "The support of the NIH will allow for further research and understanding of an important aspect of women's health, the female sexual arousal response."
For the past two years, Goldstein and Boston University School of Medicine have sponsored the largest international, multidisciplinary meeting on female sexual dysfunction, the Female Sexual Function Forum (FSFF). This year's third international forum on female sexual function, "New Perspectives in the Management of Female Sexual Dysfunction," was held October 26-29, and featured presentations by international experts in the rapidly evolving field of female sexual function.
This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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