Behavioral dichotomy in sexuality during pregnancy and effect of birth-week intercourse on pregnancy outcomes in an iranian population

Abstract

Background: Sexuality in pregnancy is extensively investigated in European, American and some eastern Asian countries but not well studied in some Middle East countries like Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of sexuality in a given Iranian population and to investigate possible association between sexual activity pattern during pregnancy and some maternity and fetal health outcomes. Methods: In this pregnancy cohort study, 74 pregnant women receiving prenatal care form Asadabadi and Alzahra university hospital prenatal care units were enrolled. They were studied for their sexuality in pregnancy, their attitudes toward it and effect of birth-week intercourse on maternity and child health. Results: Having an intercourse during the last week of pregnancy was observed in 24.3 percent of women with a mean of 1.4 times among these subjects. Cumulative number of previous intercourses, intercourse at a prior week and husband educational level were the three independent predictors of having intercourse birth week in multivariate regression analysis. Although women with lower educational level and women who had higher satisfaction score during the previous intercourse showed higher percentage of birth-week intercourse, but the results were not statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Desire for and satisfaction of sexual intercourse had less trend variation throughout the pregnancy. Having more than two intercourses during the birth week significantly increased the chance of developing prom(P<0.01). Having Apgar score equal to seven versus higher Apgar scores was significantly more likely among women with more than one intercourse during the birth-week. Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed the existence of a behavioral dichotomy in sexuality during pregnancy in an Iranian population: One substantially conservative behavior and one relatively non-cautious sexual behavior.