European Sexual Awareness Campaign 2008 "Sexual Health: Do We Europeans Care?"
What Is ESDA?
ESDA is an umbrella organisation for patient support help-lines across Europe. These organizations exist to provide sufferers and their partners with information and support on issues of sexual health through telephone help-lines, by email and post. They have national websites and fact sheets on different sexual problems in different languages and these can be sent to callers who request them free of charge.
ESDA has been holding an awareness campaign around St Valentine's Day since 2003 with the aim of drawing attention to the sexual health problems of many men and women in Europe. The event is supported by The European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM) and concludes on or around the 14th February in all participating countries simultaneously.
This year all countries participating at this alliance through their national centres, we want to stress the importance of consulting sexual problems with the health care provider as in many cases these difficulties can be the first sign of a serious underlying health condition which has gone undetected and undiagnosed.
Presenting Our European Data
Recent data from just some of the ESDA help lines shows just how common these problems really are. ESDA help lines in France, Greece, UK, Spain and Sweden received a total of 11.000 calls during last year. The largest number of calls was received in countries with the higher numbers of population of course. In France only, over 4500 people were seeking help as well as in UK with over 3000 phone calls.
Men or Women?
Men can hide. Perhaps that is the reason that throughout the continent, men were asking help from the national help-lines, no matter if they are living in Mediterranean or in the north of Europe. In France male callers represented 92, 6, in Sweden 71%, in Spain 93%, in Greece 88.5% and in the UK 75% of all calls were from men.
Has asking about sexual health to do with age?
The ages of the callers ranged from 16 to 87 years with an average age of 48 in the UK, 50 in France, 43 in Greece and 46 in Spain. The majority of callers were in stable relationships: 45% in Greece, 82% in France and 87% in Spain.
But what Europeans are doing for their sexual health?
Unfortunately, very few! Most interestingly the majority of callers to all national centers, both male and female had never consulted a health professional about their sexual problem: 75% of male callers in Sweden, 70% in Greece, 64% in France and 55% in Spain. In the case of women, still not a lot were trying to find a specialist to consult regarding sexual issues: 55% in Sweden, 60 in Greece, 64% in Spain, and 71% in France had never consulted their problem. This is particularly surprising when you look at the amount of time they had had the problem. In France men had suffered a sexual dysfunction for 3 years on average before calling the helpline and women just over 3 years, whereas in Greece and Spain men had waited over 4 years and women in Spain almost 5 years before calling for help.
What do Europeans report regarding their sexual life to a help-line?
Regarding the type of sexual problem consulted ESDA data shows that in all countries men called primarily for erectile dysfunction (ED), 75% in France, 72% in Greece, 65% in Spain, 55% in Sweden and 58% in the UK. But in the era of the drugs trying to help people with ED, still there is the problem with premature ejaculation: the second most consulted problem by men calling the help lines, with 19% in Greece, 25% UK, 12% in Spain and 10% in Sweden. What about women? Of all calls received in Greece, 11.5% were from women. In their case the most common problem was decreased sexual interest and desire: 30% in Sweden, 45% in Greece, 37% in France and 50% in the UK. And as expected their second most common reported dysfunction was orgasmic dysfunction, 36% in Greece, about 11% in Sweden and France and 8% in Spain.
Sexual health: related to the overall health of men?
Some of the most interesting data emerges when one looks at concomitant diseases: In Greece approximately 20% of men had cardiovascular disease, followed by 11% diabetes and 3% prostate. In Spain nearly 31% of men had cardiovascular disease followed by 16% prostate problems and 15% diabetes mellitus. In the UK however 12% of male callers claimed they suffered from depression/anxiety and 10% had diabetes. Data from Sweden show that 6% of the men who called the helpline had cardiovascular disease, 6% had a concomitant psychiatric disease and 4% diabetes. In France 20% had cardiovascular problems, 12% had diabetes and as for prostate problems, 7.4%.
What about the underlying conditions reported by women calling the help-lines?
There were some important differences seen in different European countries. When presenting national data it was found that in Spain and Greece psychiatric/psychological problems were reported by 14% and 11% of women callers respectively. In Sweden the most common associated problems were gastrointestinal 8%, 6% osteoporosis and 4% cardiovascular disease. The most common medical problem reported by women in France was cardiovascular (17%) followed by psychiatric/psychological problems (25%), 13% lifestyle and 10% diabetes.
ESDA provides sufferers, their partners and the general public with information about their problem and guides them on their way to finding a solution. We also offer support and reassurance. Men and women can call the helpline anonymously in their country and a telephone advisor will discuss the problem with them in a natural and relaxed manner and encourage them to consult their doctor. They can be sure they are not alone: prevalence studies show that, sexual health problems are very common, are often ignored leading to a negative impact on a person's quality of life, their personal relationships and their self-esteem. Additionally it is vital for the public to know that they are often the first sign of an important undiagnosed heath problem such as diabetes, hypertension, depression and others.
A visit to the doctor to discuss the problem is crucial as the first step to getting the right assessment, tests, treatment and follow up. We would also like to stress that any medication purchased on the Internet without a proper guarantee and taken without medical supervision can be dangerous and should be avoided in the interests of safety.
European Sexual Dysfunction Alliance
Europene sexual campanie de sensibilizare 2008 "sexual de Sãnãtate: Nu am de europeni pasã?" - European Sexual Awareness Campaign 2008 "Sexual Health: Do We Europeans Care?" - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate