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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Sex Med. 2016 Sep 23;13(11):1642–1650. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.08.011

Table 2.

High Importance of Sexual Health and Satisfaction With Sex Life Scores Among US Adults

Characteristic Sexual Health Very or Quite Important to Quality of Life,
Percent (95% CI)a
Satisfaction With Sex Life,
Mean Score (95% CI)b
Sexually Active
in the Past 30 Days
Not Sexually Active
in the Past 30 Days
Sexually Active
in the Past 30 Days
Women Men Women Men Women Men
All participants 57.0 (53.1–60.9) 67.6 (64.6–70.5) 10.7 (7.0–14.4) 32.7 (25.4–39.9) 49.1 (48.3–20.0) 50.7 (50.1–51.4)
Race/ethnicity
  Black, non-Hispanic 55.1 (42.9–67.4) 74.0 (63.4–84.5) 15.9 (5.1–26.8) 35.5 (17.7–53.3) 50.5 (48.1–52.8) 53.6 (51.3–55.9)
  White, non-Hispanic 55.7 (51.3–60.0) 64.6 (61.2–68.0) 7.4 (4.1–10.8) 26.3 (18.9–33.8) 48.8 (47.9–49.6) 50.3 (49.6–51.0)
  Other, non-Hispanic 59.6 (41.3–77.9) 59.2 (46.8–71.5) 29.2 (5.9–52.4) 63.2 (31.6–94.9) 50.9 (45.7–56.0) 49.6 (47.5–51.7)
  Hispanic or Latino 64.5 (52.0–76.9) 81.2 (73.7–88.8) 14.5 (0.0–32.1) 58.0 (27.5–88.6) 48.7 (45.8–51.6) 51.3 (49.2–53.4)
Health conditions
  Hypertension
    No 57.8 (53.4–62.2) 70.2 (66.8–73.6) 13.2 (7.8–18.5) 35.6 (26.5–44.7) 49.4 (48.4–50.3) 51.6 (50.9–52.4)
    Yes 52.5 (43.9–61.2) 59.8 (53.9–65.7) 6.7 (2.8–10.6) 25.8 (15.3–36.2) 48.1 (46.4–49.9) 48.5 (47.3–49.7)
  Coronary artery disease or heart disease
    No 58.0 (53.9–62.0) 68.8 (65.7–71.9) 10.7 (6.7–14.6) 33.8 (25.5–42.0) 49.2 (48.4–50.1) 51.3 (50.6–51.9)
    Yes 41.8 (27.4–56.2) 56.3 (46.6–66.0) 11.0 (0.3–21.7) 27.4 (13.6–41.3) 47.4 (44.5–50.3) 46.0 (43.9–48.1)
  Arthritis or rheumatism
    No 59.5 (55.1–63.9) 67.7 (64.5–70.9) 13.5 (8.3–18.8) 36.0 (27.4–44.5) 49.7 (48.8–50.7) 51.3 (50.6–52.0)
    Yes 47.8 (39.6–56.1) 66.2 (58.9–73.5) 5.6 (2.0–9.3) 22.0 (10.0–33.9) 47.0 (45.3–48.8) 47.6 (45.9–49.3)
  Diabetes mellitus (Type 1 or 2)
    No 57.4 (53.3–61.5) 68.3 (65.2–71.4) 11.3 (7.1–15.6) 34.9 (26.6–43.2) 49.1 (48.3–50.0) 51.2 (50.5–51.9)
    Yes 54.3 (41.5–67.1) 60.5 (51.1–69.9) 8.1 (1.7–14.5) 24.1 (10.8–37.5) 49.2 (46.6–51.8) 47.3 (45.3–49.3)
  Depression or anxiety
    No 55.7 (51.2–60.3) 67.1(63.8–70.4) 10.1 (5.9–14.3) 30.3 (22.4–38.3) 49.5 (48.5–50.5) 51.6 (50.9–52.3)
    Yes 60.8 (53.4–68.2) 69.9(63.3–76.5) 12.0 (4.9–19.2) 42.3 (25.1–59.5) 48.1 (46.5–49.7) 46.7 (45.3–48.1)
  Cancer
    No 57.3 (53.2–61.3) 68.1(65.0–71.1) 10.4 (6.7–14.2) 34.1 (26.2–42.0) 49.1 (48.3–50.0) 51.0 (50.3–51.6)
    Yes 44.6 (28.3–60.8) 53.9(40.9–67.0) 12.9 (0.0–26.8) 17.9 (2.6–33.1) 49.9 (46.4–53.3) 46.6 (44.4–48.8)
General self-rated health
  Excellent 70.0 (61.3–78.7) 74.2 (67.6–80.7) 14.9 (0.3–29.4) 30.1 (15.5–44.7) 53.4 (51.6–55.3) 54.9 (53.1–56.0)
  Very good 62.7 (56.8–68.6) 72.1 (67.6–76.5) 11.7 (4.2–19.3) 44.0 (29.1–58.8) 49.9 (48.6–51.2) 52.5 (51.5–53.4)
  Good 44.5 (37.2–51.7) 59.7 (54.1–65.3) 7.3 (3.1–11.6) 27.6 (12.5–42.7) 47.5 (46.0–48.9) 48.5 (47.6–49.4)
  Fair/poor 51.2 (40.3–62.0) 61.8 (52.5–71.1) 11.8 (4.0–19.6) 27.0 (15.7–38.3) 45.2 (43.0–47.4) 44.7 (42.6–46.9)
a

Item: “How important is sexual health to your quality of life?” Response options: “Not at all,” “A little bit,” “Somewhat,” “Quite a bit,” and “Very.”

b

PROMIS Satisfaction With Sex Life score. The US mean score is 50 (SD, 10).