Analysing the Determinants of Male Coital Difficulties among Attendees of the Gynae Clinic at a Tertiary Health Center in North-Central Nigeria

Background: Male sexual or coital difficulties are among the factors contributing to infertility in couples seeking fertility as this may result in low coital frequency. Coital or sexual difficulties may be due to poor sexual knowledge or attitudes, poor self-esteem, emotional difficulties or sexual abuse.

Aims/Objectives: To evaluate the causes of male sexual or coital difficulties among couples attending the infertility clinic at BSUTH, Makurdi over a 2 year period.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study involving all males attending the infertility clinic at Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) who consent to participate in the study. A pretested structured questionnaire was administered and analyzed with statistical package for social sciences (version 23.0) and the results were presented in simple proportions.

Results: There were several factors responsible for male coital difficulties. The most common was male erectile dysfunction 33 (32.4%), vaginismus 11 (10.8%), penile pain 14 (13.7%), poor response from the female partner 8 (7.8%) and severe dyspareunia 18 (17.1%).

Conclusion: Coital difficulties resulting to low frequency of sexual exposure constitutes a major cause of infertility among males attending the infertility clinic at BSUTH, Makurdi. Therefore efforts should be made to evaluate these factors while assessing infertility couples in order to mitigate the effect.