The role of medications in geriatric sexual function

Abstract

Geriatric patients take proportionately more drugs than do their younger counterparts. This, along with an aging sexual physiology, places them at greater risk for experiencing adverse drug reactions affecting sexual function. The major therapeutic categories implicated in drug-induced geriatric sexual dysfunction are the psychotherapeutic agents, such as the antidepressants and the neuroleptics, and the cardiovascular agents, predominantly the antihypertensives. There are limited drug therapies available for the treatment of sexual dysfunction in the elderly. Therapies associated with some limited clinical success include the use of testosterone and bromocriptine for impotence associated with androgen deficiencies, intracavernosal injection of vasoactive drugs, and yohimbine. Women with inadequate maintenance of vaginal lubrication may benefit from topical lubricants or estrogens and orally or transdermally administered estrogens.