Viagra gives depressed women a lift
Viagra can help the sex lives of depressed women with sexual dysfunction, study claims
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Wednesday, 23, Jul 2008 08:00
Viagra can help depressed women with sexual problems just as it helps to give men with erectile dysfunction a lift.
New research found that Viagra, also known as sildenafil, could reduce sexual problems in women caused by the use of antidepressants.
Dr H George Nurnberg of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, and colleagues compared the effects of Viagra against placebo (dummy drug) for treatment of sexual dysfunction associated with antidepressants in 98 women (average age 37) with major depression in remission.
Sexual dysfunction included orgasm delay and lack of arousal.
The trial was conducted between September 2003 and January 2007 at seven US research centres.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of women taking placebo, compared with 28 per cent of women taking sildenafil, reported no improvement with treatment.
On a clinician-rated severity improvement scale, women in the sildenafil group showed greater improvement in sexual function than women in the placebo group.
"These findings are important not only because women experience major depressive disorder at nearly double the rate of men and because they experience greater resulting sexual dysfunction than men, but also because it establishes that selective phosphodiesterase type five inhibitors [such as sildenafil] are effective in both sexes for this purpose," the study's authors conclude.
"By treating this bothersome treatment-associated adverse effect in patients who have been effectively treated for depression, but need to continue on their medication to avoid relapse or recurrence, patients can remain antidepressant-adherent, reduce the current high rates of premature medication discontinuation and improve depression disease management outcomes."