Disturbi sessuali in pazienti schizofrenici durante il trattamento con aloperidolo e quietapina

Aim. Sexual dysfunctions in schizophrenic patients are often described: they give diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic problems. Methods. This paper, after a brief review on schizophrenia and sexuality, considers to use a test, the Arizona Sexual Inventory (ASEX), to evaluate these peculiar problems in this particular group of psychiatric patients. This work, moresome, compares 2 schizophrenic outpatients groups at the first visit and after a year of treatment; one group treated with a typical neuroleptic drug, and the second with an atypical one. Prolactin levels and relative sexual dysfunctions in both treatments are measured. Results. The result is that schizophrenic outpatients have less sexual dysfunctions if treated with quetiapine than haloperidol; prolactin levels have more augmentation with haloperidol than with quetiapine, and sexual dysfunctions have proportionally more augmentation with haloperdiol than with quetiapine. Conclusions. Sexual functions are better kept with quetiapine than haloperidol