INTRODUCTION
An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection by the World Health Organization
(WHO) has been named Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is known as
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (1-3). It was declared as a pandemic
by the WHO on March 11, 2020, due to its rapid spread and deaths in many
countries (1). The highly contagious disease was first detected in
December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Fever, dry cough, muscle aches, fatigue,
and shortness of breath have been observed in patients. In later times,
it spread to all the cities of China, and then worldwide.
No definitive treatment for COVID-19 is currently available.
Non-pharmacological practices such as covering the mouth and nose during
coughing/sneezing, frequent hand washing, and maintaining the social
distance between people can only delay the spread of the virus and ease
the burden of the disease. Social distancing strategies between the
closure of educational institutions and workplaces, cancellation of mass
meetings, the isolation of suspected or confirmed cases, quarantine of
persons who have come in contact with confirmed cases, stay-at-home
suggestions, and in some cities have even a mandatory quarantine (4).
Classic public health measures, including isolation, quarantine, social
distance, and community containment, are used to reduce the pandemic of
this respiratory disease (5). Preventive measures such as social
distance are crucial, but they are thought to have long-term
consequences. Measures to protect the physical health and health systems
can have negative effects on the welfare level of individuals. The
social isolation measures adopted and proposed worldwide to control this
pandemic are of unprecedented magnitude in modern history. Since
physical distancing and social isolation can directly affect both the
physical and psychological health of individuals, many such measures are
interpreted as having far-reaching consequences that are not yet known.
These results can be related to sexual health as well as in almost any
area (6). Biological sex differences against COVID-19 are largely
unknown, but in the 2014 Ebola pandemic, the fact that gender issues and
women’s sexual health were neglected is known (7).
Because sexual health is a fundamental determinant of people’s
well-being, it is thought that sexual contact will be negatively
affected by this condition, although it does not end completely during
the COVID-19 pandemic (8). Therefore, social measures taken in response
to COVID-19 will change the social interactions and sexual life
behaviors of patients (9).
Sexual dysfunction in women is quite common and is a distressing
condition that affects the lives of many women. This includes female
sexual interest/arousal disorder, hypoactive sexual desire disorder,
genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder, and female orgasm disorder
(10). While women experience sexual dysfunction so often, the question
of whether contracting COVID-19 also negatively affects their sexual
function is also raised. Therefore, sexual health and reproductive
health throughout this pandemic should also be included in the content
of COVID-19 treatment. Universal health coverage should include women.
This study aims to examine the effect of COVID-19 on sexual dysfunction
in women.