SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION WITH ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUGS

The relationship of antihypertensive drugs have a long history of asso ciation with sexual dysfunction; however, this relationship is poorly documented. There appears to be a higher rate of sexual dysfunction in untreated hypertensive men compared with normotensive men. Sexual dys function increases with age and is associated with physical and emotio nal symptoms. There are few studies assessing sexual dysfunction with female and African-American hypertensive patients. Sexual dysfunction is associated with impairment of quality of life and noncompliance. Si nce group data may hide individual drug effects, baseline data should be collected on all patients before initiating therapy with any antihy pertensive agent. Although questionnaires may not provide objective in formation on sexual dysfunction, the response rate to direct questioni ng may be less than the response rate on a questionnaire and may be af fected by the gender or race of the interviewer. Research protocols us ing a double-blind, placebo-controlled design should assess sexual dys function in men and women in a standardized fashion.