Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Sexual function and dysfunction: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Objective

To review the available data on the evaluation of sexual function and/or sexual dysfunction in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and/or Dysthymia (DYS) without pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment.

Methods

A systematic electronic search was conducted in the Medline database for studies that evaluated sexual function/dysfunction in patients with MDD and DYS. We included studies published up to June 2017. Relevant articles present in the articles references were manually searched and included in this review.

Results

Twenty studies were eligible for analysis. It was observed a variety of results due to the heterogeneity of the studies and due to the different evaluation methods used. In general, the data from these studies demonstrated a reduction of the main sexual functions in patients with MDD and DYS such as: libido (31%-32%), drive (31%-87%), arousal (29%-85%), erection (18%-46%), lubrication (18%-79%) and orgasm (26%-81%). Increased libido (15%-22%) has also been described in some studies.

Conclusion

Sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent in DYS and in MDD. Several sexual functioning alterations were observed in this study population. Prevalence discrepancies may have occurred due to the varied methodologies used in the studies.

Depression; dysthymia; persistent depressive disorder; sexual dysfunction; sexual function

Instituto de Psiquiatria da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Av. Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, 22295-140 Rio de Janeiro - RJ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 21) 3873-5510 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: editora@ipub.ufrj.br