the relationship of obesity and overweight with sexual function in women of reproductive age: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background & aim: obesity and overweight, acknowledged as health issues, which can lead to increased risk of physical and mental diseases and increased probability of sexual dysfunction. this systematic review examined the relationship of obesity and overweight with sexual function in women of reproductive age. methods: this systematic review and meta-analysis searched articles in english databases of cochrane, scopus, web of science, pubmed and google scholar search engine as well as persian databases of sid and magiran without time limitation until the end of 2024, utilizing english keywords of obesity, overweight, sexual function and their persian equivalents. observational and descriptive studies meeting the study objective was included in the review. the articles were evaluated using the newcastle-ottawa quality review scale. the data analysis was done with stata software (version 14/1) and the random effects model was used to pool the data for meta-analysis. results: fifteen articles consisting of 7370 participants were included in this systematic review from which five articles were included in the meta-analysis. the random effects model demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between increase in obesity and overweight with decrease in sexual desire (p = 0.003, 95% ci: -0.03, -0.15; smd = -0.09) and sexual satisfaction in women (p = 0.025; -0.01, -0.07: ci 95%; rr=1.95).conclusion: obesity and overweight are associated with a decline in sexual desire and satisfaction in women. policymakers should target this population and design preventive interventions such as education, counseling and lifestyle modification strategies to enhance women’s sexual function.