Effectiveness of bupropion on sexual dysfunction of women with multiple sclerosis: A Clinical Trial

Sexual dysfunctions are relatively prevalent in female patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and affect their quality of life. This study was performed with aim to evaluate the effect of Bupropion on sexual function in women with multiple sclerosis.

This randomized controlled clinical trial study was performed in 2019 on 60 women with relapsing and remitting MS, receiving routine MS treatment and had sexual dysfunction. The subjects were divided to two groups of 30 persons receiving Bupropion and placebo. Multiple sclerosis intimacy and sexuality questionnaire, female sexual function index, fatigue severity scale and Beck depression questionnaire were filled out for all the patients before, 4 and 8 weeks after the interventions initiation. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 20) and Analysis of variance (AOVA) and repeated measure tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Multiple sclerosis intimacy and sexuality scores 8 weeks after the intervention were significantly lower in bupropion group (9.96±45.85) compared to placebo group (53.56±11.46) (P= 0.007). Also, the score of depression in the two stages after the intervention in the bupropion group (11.26 ± 23.03) was lower than the placebo group (37.86 ± 13.43) and decreased during the intervention (p <0.0001). FSFI score and its subscales showed an improvement in bupropion group (2.67±25.88) compared with placebo group (17.44±2.8) which indicated continuity of effectiveness of Bupropion independently from depression and fatigue scores alteration during treatment (p<0.001).

The results of the present study showed the effectiveness of bupropion on improvement of sexual function in female patients with MS.