Comparative Study of Sexual Side Effects in Female Patients With Schizophrenia Receiving Risperidone or Olanzapine

To determine the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in female patients with schizophrenia receiving olanzapine or risperidone and to understand its relationship with other psychosocial variables.

This cross-sectional descriptive study evaluated 57 female stabilized schizophrenia outpatients receiving risperidone (n = 28) or olanzapine (n = 29) in the psychiatric departments of a tertiary care hospital in South India from January to May 2019. Sexual dysfunction was assessed with the Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire, severity of psychosis with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and level of improvement with the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement and Severity scales.

Among the subjects, 93% of women receiving risperidone experienced sexual dysfunction compared to 83% in the olanzapine group. Sexual responses such as pleasure, frequency of sexual contacts, desire, arousal, and orgasm were significantly low in both drug groups (P < .05). Logistic regression of sexual dysfunction as dependent variable with other important variables found no significant relationship.

This study suggests that sexual dysfunction is an important undetected problem in the majority of female schizophrenia patients. Risperidone was associated with more sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction is an understudied yet important consideration in the treatment of schizophrenia.