Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 May 14:13:97.
doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00097. eCollection 2019.

Sexual Functioning and Opioid Maintenance Treatment in Women. Results From a Large Multicentre Study

Lorenzo Zamboni  1 , Anna Franceschini  2 , Igor Portoghese  3 , Laura Morbioli  1 , Fabio Lugoboni  1 ; GICS Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Sexual Functioning and Opioid Maintenance Treatment in Women. Results From a Large Multicentre Study

Lorenzo Zamboni et al. Front Behav Neurosci. .

Abstract

Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is the most widespread therapy for both females and males opioid addicts. While many studies have evaluated the OMT impact on men's sexuality, the data collected about the change in women's sexual functioning is still limited despite the fact that it is now well-known that opioids - both endogenous and exogenous - affect the endocrine system and play an important role in sexual functioning. The present study aims to determine how OMT with buprenorphine (BUP) or methadone (MTD) affects sexual health in women; examining also any possible emerging correlation between sexual dysfunction (SD), type of opioid and patients' mental health. This multi-center study case recruited 258 female volunteers attending Italian public Addiction Outpatients Centers that were stabilized with OMT for at least 3 months. SD was assessed with the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. The twelve-item General Health Questionnaire was used to assess participants' mental health conditions. The results show that 56.6% of women receiving OMT for at least 3 months presented SD without significant differences between MTD e BUP groups. The majority of the subjects with SD have a poorer quality of intimate relationships and worse mental health than the average. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the largest report on the presence of SDs in women as a side effects of MTD and BUP used in OMT. Since SDs cause difficulties in intimate relationships, lower patients' quality of life and interfere with OMT beneficial outcomes, we recommend that women undertaking an opioid therapy have routine screening for SD and we highlight the importance to better examine opioid-endocrine interactions in future studies in order to provide alternative potential treatments such as the choice of opioid, opioid dose reduction and hormone supplementation.

Keywords: addiction; buprenorphine; methadone; quality of life; women sexuality.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edn Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
    1. Arbuckle J. L. (2007). Amos 16.0 [Computer Software]. Chicago, IL: Smallwaters.
    1. Back S. E., Payne R. L., Wahlquist A. H., Carter R. E., Stroud Z., Haynes L., et al. (2011). Comparative profiles of men and women with opioid dependence: results from a national multisiteeffectiveness trial. Am. J. Drug Alcohol Abuse. 37 313–323. 10.3109/00952990.2011.596982 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bawor M., Dennis B. B., Samaan M. C., Plater C., Worster A., Varenbut M., et al. (2014). Methadone induces testosterone suppression in patients with opioid addiction. Sci. Rep. 4:6189. 10.1038/srep06189 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becker J. B., Hu M. (2008). Sex differences in drug abuse. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 29:36–47. 10.1016/j.yfrne.2007.07.003 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources