Female sexual dysfunction associated with antidepressant administration: Arandomized, placebo-controlled study of pharmacologic intervention

Objective: Few controlled trials of pharmacologic intervention in women wit h antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction have been reported, and ther e is uncertainty about the usefulness of putative treatments and the assess ment methodologies. The authors evaluated the efficacy of buspirone and ama ntadine in the treatment of sexual dysfunction associated with fluoxetine a dministration. Method: Women who had been successfully treated with fluoxet ine for at least 8 weeks and who had reported a deterioration in sexual fun ction not present before the initiation of fluoxetine entered a 4-week asse ssment period. After assessment they were randomly assigned to an 8-week tr eatment trial with buspirone (N=19), amantadine (N=18), or placebo (N=20). Outcomes were assessed by using a patient-rated daily diary and a clinician -rated structured interview. Results: While the amantadine-treated women di d report significantly greater improvements in energy levels than women in the placebo group, all treatment groups experienced improvement in overall sexual function as well as in most individual measures. There were no stati stically significant differences among the three groups. Conclusions: Neith er buspirone nor amantadine was more effective than placebo in ameliorating antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction. All groups experienced marke d nonspecific improvement during treatment, which suggests the importance o f placebo-controlled trials for this condition.