By Martha Kerr
BOSTON (Reuters Health) Sept 19 - Patients with compulsive sexual behavior may need to be screened for misuse or abuse of erectile dysfunction drugs, researchers warned during the 35th annual meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology that is being held here this week.
Drugs for erectile dysfunction are among the highest selling class of drugs. Prescriptions are being dispensed in growing numbers and non-prescription use has been increasingly reported.
To investigate the risk of abuse or misuse of this class of drugs, Noni A. Graham and colleagues at the University of Florida at Gainesville interviewed 41 male patients recently diagnosed with a sexual compulsivity disorder. Average age of the study population was 42 years, 95% were white and 5% were Hispanic.
Seven patients were in their thirties, six in their forties, five in their fifties, two in their sixties and one was in his twenties.
Graham told meeting attendees that 48.8% of the subjects reported some erectile dysfunction drug use. Half had received a prescription from a healthcare provider, 30% had obtained medications through "other means," such as on the street, 15% obtained drugs from the Internet and 5% reported receiving pills from a friend.
Viagra was named by 60% as the erectile dysfunction medication used, 20% used both Viagra and Cialis, and 10% used Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
Patients with a history of Internet sex and/or compulsive masturbation should be evaluated for erectile dysfunction drug misuse, Graham told meeting attendees.
"We would suggest adding questions about these medications to future national monitoring surveys," Graham recommended.
"We also recommend screening patients for sexual compulsivity problems in addition to educating healthcare providers about the diversion and abuse potential of these drugs."
Their study will be published in the Journal of Addictive Diseases.
Source:http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/544788
