Sexual side effects in patients treated with desvenlafaxine: An observational study in daily practice

Introduction Sexual function is important for patients' well-being but it is a common side effect of SSRI and SNRI, included desvenlafaxine. Objectives and aims Evaluate incidence and characteristics of sexual dysfunction caused by desvenlafaxine in the clinical practice. Methods One hundred and thirty-three patients with recently introduced desvenlafaxine treatment are recruited from Barakldo and Uribe-Kosta Mental Health Centres in Biscay, Spain. UKU scale is administered to measure sexual side effects. Statistical analysis is performed using SPSS v.22. Results Sexual dysfunction is observed in 5 patients (3.7%) at 50 and 100mg/d (2 and 3 patients, respectively) desvenlafaxine doses. Two patients (1.5%) have experimented more than one sexual side effect. Regarding gender differences, the most frequent sexual dysfunctions are diminished sexual desire (5.5%) and erectile dysfunction (5.5%) in men and orgasmic dysfunction (1.2%) in women ( P -values are 0.034; 0.034 and 0.408, respectively). Discontinuation is decided in 60% of patients. Conclusions Desvenlafaxine has a well-tolerated sexual side effect profile in general population. There are some gender-related differences both in presentation and perception, as it has been described with other drugs, and this should be taken into account by prescriptors.