Impairment of sexual activity in middle-aged women in Chile.

Objective: It has been suggested that approximately 40% of women between 40 and 64 years of age cease their sexual activity. Our objective was to examine the reasons that sexual activity has stopped and to determine the effect that this behavior has on the marital stability of those middle-aged women.

Design: A total of 534 healthy women between 40 and 64 years of age who were attending the Southern Metropolitan Health Service in Santiago, Chile, were asked to take part in the study.