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. 2018 May 29;18(1):158.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1738-3.

Assessment of sexual dysfunction and associated factors among patients with schizophrenia in Ethiopia, 2017

Tolesa Fanta  1 , Kibrom Haile  2 , Dessie Abebaw  2 , Dawit Assefa  3 , Getahun Hibdye  4
Affiliations

Assessment of sexual dysfunction and associated factors among patients with schizophrenia in Ethiopia, 2017

Tolesa Fanta et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Sexual dysfunction is remarkably prevalent amongst psychiatric patients than general population. This might be due to either the nature of the illness itself or the unwanted effect of the medication they are taking for the illness which limits the capability of forming interpersonal and sexual relationships. This issue is rarely raised in developing countries, and the aim of this study was to assess magnitude and factors contributing to sexual dysfunction among patients with Schizophrenia.

Method: Hospital based cross sectional study was conducted at Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital from January to June 2017. The sample required for this study was determined by using single population proportion formula and the final sample size was 423; and systematic random sampling was used to select participants. We used Change in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire to measure sexual dysfunction. The collected data was cleaned, interred in to Epi data and transferred to SPSS version 20 for farther analysis. The OR with 95% CI was used to measure association and P-value < 0.05 was used as statistically significant.

Result: A total of 422 patients with Schizophrenia were involved in the study. The prevalence of General Sexual dysfunction was 82.7%; and in male and female patients the prevalence was 84.5 and 78.6% respectively. Marital status (Unmarried, Divorced and widowed, history of relapse and poor quality of life were associated significantly to global sexual dysfunction.

Conclusion: The magnitude of Sexual dysfunction was found to be high among patients with schizophrenia and it is associated with different factors like unmarried, divorced, widowed, relapse and poor quality of life. Treating physicians should be conscious to sexual dysfunction during evaluation and treatment of patients with Schizophrenia. Special attention should be given to single, divorced, widowed patients and patients with history of relapse to improve quality of life of this patients.

Keywords: Amanuel hospital; Schizophrenia; Sexual dysfunction.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance was obtained from Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital Ethical Review Committee. The Four Item Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT4) was used to measure the capacity of the patient to give consent. Then the purpose, importance and confidentiality of the information gathered was explained to each of the competent participant before the start of interview. Their willingness to participate in the study was asked and written consent was obtained. Participant’s privacy was kept strictly at the time of data collection.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Antipsychotic Medications prescribed for the participants
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Medications prescribed for comorbid psychiatric problems
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Magnitude of Chronic Medical Illness among Patients with Schizophrenia
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Magnitude of Substance Use among Patients with Schizophrenia
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Global sexual Dysfunction and sexual Dysfunction across Male and Female participants
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Components of Sexual Dysfunction among male participants
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Components of Sexual Dysfunction among Female Participants
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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