Antipsychotic
Drugs Often Affect Sexual Function
(April 19, 2007) -- NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients taking
antipsychotic drugs for
schizophrenia often produce little or no hormone in the sex glands, a
condition known as hypogonadism, and commonly develop subsequent
problems in
sexual function, according to the findings published in the Journal of
Clinical Psychiatry.
Dr. Oliver D. Howes and colleagues from the Institute of Psychiatry,
London, examined rates of sexual dysfunction and hypogonadism in 103
patients with
schizophrenia or
schizoaffective disorder who had been on
stable
antipsychotic medication for at least 6 months.
These patients were compared with 62 normal untreated subjects recruited
from primary care practices and with 57 subjects recruited from a sexual
dysfunction clinic.
The participants were assessed using the Sexual Functioning Questionnaire
(SFQ), in which higher scores indicate greater impairment.
Patients on antipsychotics had significantly greater average total SFQ
scores -- 9.9 in women and 7.8 in men --- compared with normal subjects, who
had scores of 4.1 and 4.09, respectively. The scores in the treated patients
were similar to those in the patients who attended the
sexual dysfunction
clinic -- 7.2 in women and 9.9 in men).
Compared with normal subjects, the likelihood of patients having sexual
dysfunction was increased by 15-fold in
women and 9-fold in
men.
Hypogonadism was common, with 79 percent of premenopausal women with low
estrogen production and 92 percent with low progesterone levels.
Twenty-eight percent of men had low testosterone production."
"The high rates of hypogonadism suggest that patients are at increased
risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis," Howes and colleagues say.
"Clinicians are advised to inquire about sexual dysfunction and
monitor...hormone levels in patients taking antipsychotics."
Source: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Last updated: 04/07
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