A study of men in India with alcohol dependence showed that 67% of them also suffer from sexual dysfunction. Loss or lack of sexual desire was the most common issue, followed by erectile dysfunction. The paper was published in the Journal of Psychosexual Health.
Alcohol dependence syndrome, also known as alcohol use disorder, is a medical condition characterized by an inability to control or stop alcohol consumption despite adverse consequences. Individuals with alcohol use disorder experience a strong craving for alcohol, increased tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms when not drinking. This disorder can lead to significant impairments in daily functioning, including difficulties in personal relationships, work, and health. Chronic alcohol use can result in severe physical health issues such as liver disease, cardiovascular problems, and neurological damage.
Alcohol use has a complex relationship with sexual functioning. Some studies suggest that alcohol use can enhance the desire for sexual activity. However, long-term consumption of high amounts of alcohol tends to be associated with sexual dysfunction, as many studies report. Men with sexual dysfunction are often found to be chronically dependent on alcohol.
Study author Parth A. Soni and his colleagues wanted to examine how prevalent sexual dysfunctions are among male patients with alcohol dependence syndrome. They were also interested in the impact of the severity of alcohol dependence on the severity of sexual dysfunction. These authors note that studies report between 40% and 95% of men with alcohol dependence suffer from sexual dysfunction, but very few such studies have been done on the Indian population.
Participants in their study were 170 male patients with alcohol dependence recruited from the outpatient Department of Psychiatry at K. J. Somaiya Medical College, Hospital, and Research Centre, Sion, Mumbai. Their average age was 36 years. Around 50% of patients had only primary education, and 35% had secondary education. Over 85% were employed, and all patients were married.
These individuals completed assessments of alcohol dependence (the Alcohol Dependence Scale) and sexual functioning (the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale and the Sexual Dysfunction Checklist).
Results showed that 67% of patients had suffered from alcohol dependence for between 6-10 years, and 21% for more than 10 years. Additionally, 67% of participating patients had sexual dysfunction. Among sexual dysfunctions, loss or lack of sexual desire was the most frequent (45.88%), closely followed by erectile dysfunction, which was reported by approximately 40% of participants. The prevalence of premature ejaculation was 31.76%.
Furthermore, 35% of participants were dissatisfied with the frequency of sex they had, 23% with their own sexual function, and 10% were dissatisfied with their sexual relationship with their partners. The severity of alcohol dependence was not associated with the type of sexual dysfunction.
“Alcohol use was found to be associated with sexual dysfunctions, and lack of sexual desire was the most common sexual dysfunction,” the study authors concluded.
The study confirms the links between alcohol dependence and sexual functioning in a sample of Indian men treated at a psychiatric hospital for alcohol dependence. However, it should be noted that many individuals with alcohol dependence do not progress to clinical treatment and that sexual functioning data was self-reported. This leaves quite a bit of room for reporting bias to affect the results.
The paper, “Study of Sexual Dysfunctions in Male Patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome,” was authored by Parth A. Soni, Bindoo S. Jadhav, and Rishab Verma.