Viagra-Type Drugs Unlikely to Solve Many Women’s Sexual Response Problems
ACOG NEWS RELEASEFor Release: July 31, 2001
7:00 AM EDT
Viagra-Type Drugs Unlikely to Solve Many Women’s Sexual Response Problems
WASHINGTON, DC — Medications like sildenafil citrate (Viagra) will not be successful in treating women with sexual dysfunction unless the complex psychological as well as biological factors affecting women’s sexual arousal are better understood, says a commentator in the August issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Products like Viagra improve genital engorgement or blood flow (genital vasocongestion), but most studies so far indicate that insufficient genital vasocongestion is often not the issue in women presenting with sexual arousal problems.
Rosemary Basson, MB, BS, MRCP, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, says that in most women with sexual dysfunction, “a vasoactive medication to promote genital congestion will not address these women’s lack of pleasure — their physical genital engorgement responses are already occurring.” Rather, Basson argues, women’s sexual arousal has a complex biopsychosocial nature that correlates more with how mentally exciting a woman finds the sexual stimulus and less with objective blood flow changes.
For women accurately diagnosed with a physical genital arousal disorder, vasoactive medication may be useful. Studies are currently under way on products like Viagra and transdermal testosterone replacement. But for many women with sexual arousal disorder, says Basson, psychological factors affecting arousability must be addressed along with any biological factors.
Contact: Rosemary Basson, MB, BS, MRCP, University of British Columbia, Departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Vancouver, Canada, at sexmed@interchange.ubc.ca.
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Studies published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of ACOG. ACOG is the national medical organization representing nearly 40,000 physicians who provide health care for women.
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