No Association Between Hormonal Abnormality and Sexual Dysfunction in Japanese Schizophrenia Patients Treated with Antipsychotics

Objective: Although sexual dysfunction is believed to be caused by hormonal abnormalities, few reports have studied sexual dysfunction and its association with hormonal abnormalities in Asian populations with schizophrenia.

Methods: We employed a cross-sectional, case-control survey design to collect data from 191 (108 men) Japanese schizophrenia outpatients treated with antipsychotics and 182 (49 men) healthy subjects. Sexual dysfunction was evaluated using the Udvalg for Kliniske Undersøgelser (UKU) Side Effect Rating Scale. We measured plasma concentrations of prolactin in both genders and testosterone in men and estradiol in women.

Results: Multiple regression analyses revealed the following findings: the number of antipsychotics correlated with diminished sexual desire (standardized beta = 0.241, p < 0.05); the dose of antipsychotics correlated with gynecomastia (standardized beta = 0.277, p < 0.01), increased sexual desire (standardized beta = 0.229, p < 0.05), and ejaculatory dysfunction (standardized beta = 0.248, p < 0.05); and the dose of antipsychotics correlated with menorrhagia in women (standardized beta = 0.284, p < 0.05). However, neither plasma concentrations of prolactin, testosterone nor estradiol correlated with sexual dysfunction.

Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that an association between sex hormone abnormalities and sexual dysfunction is unlikely but that the dose or number of antipsychotics is associated with some sexual dysfunction.