BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A new research shows that 40 percent of women report sexual problems in the United States, but only 12 percent are distressed about it, according to  media reports Monday.

    The research was led by Dr. Jan Shifren, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Vincent Menopause Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston.

    This study included almost 32,000 female respondents aged 18 and older.

    All in all, 43.1 percent of those surveyed reported some kind of sexual problem: 39 percent reported diminished desire, 26 percent reported problems with arousal, and 21 percent problems with achieving orgasm.

    And there were age differences. "The highest prevalence of sexual dysfunction was in older women, but they experienced less associated distress," Shifren said.

    "The most distress occurred at mid-life, and the youngest women had the lowest prevalence of problems and of associated distress."

    The research was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim International, maker of flibanserin, a drug for female sexual dysfunction that is currently being tested in clinical trials.

    Previous surveys have reported similar estimates of female sexual dysfunction, including low desire and problems with orgasm. The most widely quoted figure, from the U.S. National Health and Social Life Survey, is 43 percent.

    However, few of those surveys have looked at distress, despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association and U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guidelines require such distress as part of the diagnostic criteria.

    The study did not specifically look at why older women had more problems yet less distress about them.

    And 12 percent of 83 million U.S. women aged 20 to 65 is nothing to scoff at, noted a related editorial in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. "The good news is that 12 percent is a very different number than 40 percent," said Shifren.

    (Agencies)