[Sexuality and quality of life. Results from the quality of life-study of 4,626 Danes aged 31-33 years born at Rigshospitalet 1959-1961].

From a cohort of 7222 31-33-year-olds we obtained answers to a 317-item quality-of-life questionnaire that included five questions on sexuality from 4626 respondents, giving a response rate of 64.1%. Among the women, 1.6% said they were bisexual and 1.4% homosexual; the corresponding figures for men were 1.3% and 1.1% respectively. The quality of life of bisexual persons was somewhat lower than the cohort mean (W: 15.6% lower, M: 19.1% lower), and that of homosexual persons was a little lower than the cohort mean (W: 8.5% lower, M: 3.7% lower). About a quarter of all respondents said they had sexual problems. Most frequent among the women were reduced sexual desire (17.0%) and the absence of a suitable sex partner (7.6%), and among the men, the absence of a suitable sex partner (12.5%) and premature ejaculation (5.5%). The quality of life of persons with sexual problems was measured to be from 7.0% to 24.2% lower than the cohort mean (as expressed in terms of this mean). The intermediate-sized relationship between sexual problems and quality of life suggests that such problems can be symptoms of reduced quality of life, rather than medical problems to be tackled as such. Implications for quality life-sensitive clinical practice are discussed.