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Depro women get sexy on Viagra
23/07/2008 09:01 - (SA)
Chicago - Viagra, a popular
anti-impotence pill, may help some women on antidepressants
have better sex, US researchers said on Tuesday.
They found women on antidepressants who took Viagra had
fewer sexual side effects than those who took a placebo. Sexual
dysfunction can prompt many people to stop taking drugs to
treat depression.
While other studies have hinted that Viagra might help
these women, the latest research, published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association, is one of the first
scientifically rigorous studies to show this benefit.
"By treating this bothersome treatment-associated adverse
effect ... patients can remain antidepressant-adherent, reduce
the current high rates of premature medication discontinuation,
and improve depression disease management outcomes," Dr H
George Nurnberg of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque
and colleagues wrote.
The research was funded by Pfizer Inc, maker of Viagra,
which is known generically as sildenafil. Nurnberg has been a
paid consultant for the company.
Sexual dysfunction is linked with most commonly used
antidepressants, including selective and non-selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors.
Lack of arousal
These drugs represent 90% of the
180 million antidepressant prescriptions filled in the United
States each year, according to the researchers.
The researchers studied 98 women with an average age of 37
who had symptoms of sexual dysfunction, including delay of
orgasm or lack of arousal, and whose depression was in
remission after treatment with antidepressants.
Women took a dose of Viagra or the placebo one to two hours
before anticipated sexual activity for eight weeks.
While 73% of women taking the placebo reported no
sexual improvement, only 28% of women taking sildenafil
failed to benefit.
Related drugs such as Eli Lilly and Co's Cialis, known
generically as tadalafil, and Levitra or vardenafil, sold by
GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer AG and Schering-Plough, work in a
similar way to Viagra.
"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
(drugs such as sildenafil) are effective in both sexes for this
purpose," they wrote.
- Reuters
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