CHICAGO (CNN) -- Thirty-one percent of men and 43 percent of women regularly suffer from some form of sexual dysfunction, warranting recognition as a significant public health concern, according to a new comprehensive U.S. sex study.

"I think it gives us a base for explaining why we had this enormous response to Viagra," said the study's lead author, University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann.

Researchers are calling the findings the first of their kind since a 1948 report by Dr. Alfred Kinsey on human sexual behavior.

The study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on data from the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey, a collection of interviews with 1,749 women and 1,410 men aged 18 to 59.

Information from the national probability sample concerning sex was reviewed in the wake of Viagra's popularity in treating male impotence since it was put on the market last year.

Survey participants were asked if they had experienced sexual dysfunction over several months during the previous year, including lack of sexual desire, difficulty becoming aroused, inability to climax or ejaculate, premature orgasms, pain during sex, anxiety over sexual performance and not finding sex pleasurable.

Lack of interest in sex was the top problem for women. A third said they regularly didn't want sex, 26 percent said they regularly didn't have orgasms and 23 percent said sex was not pleasurable.

For men, about one-third said they had reoccurring problems with climaxing too early, 14 percent said they had no interest in sex and 8 percent said they regularly experienced no pleasure from sex.

In all, 43 percent of women and 31 percent of men said they had one or more reoccurring problems with sex. Sexual problems were most common among young women and older men.

In both women and men, sexual dysfunction was related to emotional and stress problems including poor health, poor quality of life and prior traumatic sexual experiences.

Researchers, who were surprised by the findings, said the study offers hope and comfort for those with sexual problems.

"Often they don't even admit it to their partners. It's the old 'I've got a headache' instead of, 'I don't feel like having sex,'" Laumann said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.