Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and Current Pharmacotherapeutic Options in Women

Abstract

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) is the most common female sexual dysfunction. The diagnosis of HSDD requires the existence of personal distress or interpersonal difficulties associated with low sexual desire, that cannot be explained by any other psychiatric affection and that is not exclusively due to a disease or substance. HSDD can have a serious effect on emotional wellbeing and interpersonal relationships, and it occurs in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The Decreased Sexual Desire Screener is a shortened diagnostic method designed to help doctors who are not specialized in female sexual dysfunction to diagnose acquired HSDD in women. There is evidence that treatment with androgens or with estrogens is effective in HSDD; however, important unanswered questions still exist. Presently, new therapeutic strategies to combat HSDD are being researched, including novel methods of testosterone provision and drugs that act upon the CNS.