Psychiatry Research EG

Background Sexual dysfunctions are noted in chronic opiate addicts, which include reduced libido and sexual performance, erectile dysfunction, and delayed ejaculation in male population. Plasma testosterone levels have been shown to be consistently lower in opiate addicts as compared with non-substance-dependent male population. Aim The aim of this study was to assess the effect of synthetic opioid dependence on sexual functions of dependent patients as well as its effect on the level of sex hormone and to compare the sexuality and level of sex hormones of synthetic opioid-dependent male population with non-substance-dependent male population. Patients and methods Groups I and II were selected consecutively and were recruited from Kasr El-Ainy Hospital as well as private hospitals in greater Cairo during the period from November 2012 to March 2013. Group 1 included 30 substance-dependent male participants and group 2 included 30 non-substance-dependent male participants who were subjected to sexuality scale, international index of erectile function, and sex hormone levels. The addiction severity index was applied to group I only. Results The sociodemographic findings of the study found that 80.0% of group I participants were not working and only 20% worked, in comparison with group II in which 90% of participants were working and only 10% were not working. An overall 66.7% of group I participants were divorced and only 26.7% were married compared with group II in which no one was divorced and 86.7% of participants were married. As regards the sexuality scale, 56.6% of participants, which was more than half of group I, had intermediate level of sexual esteem, 23.3% of the group had low level of sexual esteem, and only 20% of the group had high level of sexual esteem. An overall 50%, which was half of group I had low sexual preoccupation, 30% had intermediate sexual preoccupation, and only 20% of the group had high sexual preoccupation. As regards the international index of erectile function, 26.6% had no erectile dysfunction, 36.6% had mild dysfunction, and 3.33% of men in group I had severe erectile dysfunction. An overall 6.6% of the group had no sexual desire dysfunction, 16.6% of the group had mild dysfunction, 26.6% of the group had moderate dysfunction, and 20% of group I had severe sexual desire dysfunction. An overall 10% of group I had no orgasmic dysfunction, 33.3% had mild orgasmic dysfunction, 46.6%, which was almost half of group I, had mild-to-moderate orgasmic dysfunction. According to sex hormone levels, 30% had low levels of testosterone, 50%, which was half of group I, had high prolactin levels, 3.3% had low levels, and 46.6% of the group had normal levels of prolactin, 30% of group I had high levels of luteinizing hormone, and 70% had normal levels of luteinizing hormone. Conclusion According to our study, it was shown that there was an effect of synthetic opioid dependency not only on the sexual functions of dependent men, including their erectile function, sexual orgasm, and desire, and their level of sexual esteem in which they experience low sexual esteem and low sexual preoccupation and high sexual depression compared with nondependent men but also on the level of their testosterone levels especially and high prolactin, which inhibit their sexual desire compared with nondependent men. Keywords: opioid addiction, sex hormone levels, sexual dysfunction