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Improve Female Sexual Function
Viagra
Can Improve Sexual Function For Women Taking Antidepressants, Study Finds
July 25, 2008,
Pfizer's erectile dysfunction medication Viagra can improve
sexual function
for some women who take antidepressants,
according to a
study published in the
Journal
of the
American Medical Association, the
Baltimore
Sun reports (Kohn, Baltimore
Sun,
7/23). According to the
AP/Denver Post, previous research has found that more than 50%
of patients who take antidepressants develop
side effects that include decreased sexual
function (Johnson,
AP/Denver
Post,
7/22).
For the study, George Nurnberg, a University of New Mexico
School of Medicine
psychiatrist, and colleagues divided 98 women who took
serotonin re-uptake inhibitors into
two groups, one that took Viagra and one that took a
placebo (Baltimore
Sun,
7/23).
Participants, who had an average age of 37, reported
no problems with sexual function
before they began to take
antidepressants and had "controlled" their depression,
USA
Today reports (Szabo,
USA Today,
7/23).
According to researchers, 28% of participants who took
Viagra experienced no
improvement in sexual function, compared with 73% of those
who took a placebo (Wall
Street Journal, 7/23). The study also found
that Viagra did not increase sexual desire
(Gellene,
Los Angeles Times, 7/23). Some of the
women who took Viagra experienced
headaches, reddening of the skin and indigestion. Pfizer
funded the study with a research
grant, but company officials said that they have no plans
to seek FDA approval for Viagra
as a treatment for sexual dysfunction in women
(Thomas,
Chicago Sun-Times, 7/23).)
As posted on
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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