A recent study evaluated rates and patterns of Sexual Dysfunction (SD) among drug-naïve women with mild to moderate depression contrasting those receiving escitalopram.

120 females diagnosed with mild to moderate depression were contained in Group (A) while 60 age-matched volunteers serving as controls were contained in Group (B). All underwent the validated Arabic female sexual function index (ArFSFI), perceived stress situation scale (PSS), patient health questionnaire-9 scale (PHQ-9) and centre for epidemiological studies-depression scale (CES-D) evaluation.

Females with mild to moderate depression treated with escitalopram showed better sexual function contrasting drug naïve women. They also showed better scores of PSS, CES-D and PHQ-9 than the drug naïve women. The PSS, the CES-D and the PHQ-9 scales showed a negative correlation with the domains of desire, pain, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and total score of FSFI. Lastly, after adjusting FSFI as a dependent variable, the PSS scale, the PHQ-9 scale and the international index of erectile function-5 were found to be the significant independent predictors of the affected females’ sexual function.

Thus, it was proved that Escitalopram possesses a lesser chance of SD in females with mild to moderate depression.

Source: Sexologies, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sexol.2021.10.005.