Prevalence and pattern of sexual dysfunction in married females receiving antidepressants: An exploratory study

To study the prevalence and patterns of sexual dysfunctions in female patients receiving antidepressants.

Eighty married female patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder, currently in remission, and receiving a single antidepressant at least for 3 months, were assessed for sexual dysfunction on female sexual function index (FSFI) scale.

Thirty four patients (42.5%) receiving antidepressants had FSFI score less than 26.55 and were considered to have sexual dysfunction. When only the domain cutoff scores were used for the whole study sample (n=80), it was found that 95% had decreased desire, 60% had decreased arousal, 37.5% had decreased lubrication, 63.8 had decreased orgasm, 55% had decreased satisfaction and 25% had pain during sexual activity.

To conclude, our study suggests that sexual dysfunction is quite prevalent in married female patients receiving antidepressants and all the domains of sexual functioning are impaired by antidepressants.