Patients taking antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia often produce little or no hormone in the sex glands, a condition known as hypogonadism, and commonly develop subsequent problems in sexual function, according to the findings published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Dr. Oliver D. Howes and colleagues from the Institute of Psychiatry, London, examined rates of sexual dysfunction and hypogonadism in 103 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who had been on stable antipsychotic medication for at least 6 months.

These patients were compared with 62 normal untreated subjects recruited from primary care practices and with 57 subjects recruited from a sexual dysfunction clinic.

The participants were assessed using the Sexual Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ), in which higher scores indicate greater impairment.

Patients on antipsychotics had significantly greater average total SFQ scores -- 9.9 in women and 7.8 in men --- compared with normal subjects, who had scores of 4.1 and 4.09, respectively. The scores in the treated patients were similar to those in the patients who attended the sexual dysfunction clinic -- 7.2 in women and 9.9 in men).

Compared with normal subjects, the likelihood of patients having sexual dysfunction was increased by 15-fold in women and 9-fold in men.

Hypogonadism was common, with 79 percent of premenopausal women with low estrogen production and 92 percent with low progesterone levels. Twenty-eight percent of men had low testosterone production."

"The high rates of hypogonadism suggest that patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis," Howes and colleagues say. "Clinicians are advised to inquire about sexual dysfunction and monitor...hormone levels in patients taking antipsychotics."