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
Review
. 2015 Apr;16(6):875-87.
doi: 10.1517/14656566.2015.1020791. Epub 2015 Mar 2.

Advances in pharmacotherapy for treating female sexual dysfunction

Rossella E Nappi  1 , Laura Cucinella
Affiliations
Review

Advances in pharmacotherapy for treating female sexual dysfunction

Rossella E Nappi et al. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2015 Apr.

Abstract

Introduction: 'Female sexual dysfunction' (FSD) is an umbrella term comprising a range of common disorders, including hypoactive sexual desire, reduced subjective and/or physical genital arousal (poor sensation, vasocongestion, lubrication), sexual pain and inability to achieve orgasm/satisfaction, which are multidimensional by nature and often coexisting. Psychological and contextual factors have a significant influence on organic components of sexual response and behavior and a tailored medical approach to sexual symptoms is inevitably limited.

Areas covered: The paper reports the most recent advances in pharmacotherapy for women taking into account the biopsychosocial model. Hormone therapy, including estrogens, testosterone, tibolone and dehydroepiandrosterone, are discussed in term of efficacy and safety in postmenopausal women both for female sexual interest/arousal disorder (FSIAD) and genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder. Ospemifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, approved to treat dyspareunia at menopause, is also discussed. Data on psychoactive agents for treatment of FSIAD in premenopausal women are discussed, including the potential use of on-demand combined hormonal (testosterone) and non-hormonal (buspirone or sildenafil) treatments to address possible neurophysiological profiles of women.

Expert opinion: We are still waiting for an approved pharmacotherapy for FSD. This is not the result of gender inequality in sexual medicine, but it reflects the need of balancing benefits and risks in order to provide effective and safe treatments to women of any age.

Keywords: dehydroepiandrosterone; female sexual interest/arousal disorder; genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder; hormone therapy; local estrogen therapy; ospemifene; psychoactive drugs; testosterone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources