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23 July 2008
Viagra Touted As Treatment For Female Sexual Dysfunction 
Women with sexual dysfunction brought on by the use of antidepressants experienced a reduction in adverse sexual effects with use of sildenafil, commonly known as Viagra, reports the Journal of the American Medical Association. Sexual dysfunction is a frequent adverse effect occurring with antidepressant treatment and is associated with both selective and nonselective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants, which represent 90 percent of the antidepressant prescriptions filled in the United States. "Antidepressant treatment-associated sexual dysfunction is estimated to occur in 30 percent to 70 percent of men and women treated for major depression," the researchers write. To date, no trial has demonstrated an effective treatment for women experiencing sexual dysfunction associated with the use of SRIs.
In the latest research, H. George Nurnberg, of the University of New Mexico, compared the efficacy of sildenafil against placebo for treatment of sexual dysfunction (such as orgasm delay or lack of arousal) associated with SRI treatment in 98 women (average age 37). He found that 73 percent of the women taking placebo, compared with 28 percent 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 5 inhibitors [such as sildenafil] are effective in both sexes for this purpose," Numberg concludes. Related:
Sexual Showstoppers
Sexual Problems All In The Mind, Say Psychologists
Androgen Insufficiency, Testosterone and Female Libido
Female Sexual Dysfunction A "Corporate Creation"
Little Blue Pill, Mighty Big Market Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
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