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"Viagra may help women with sex problems tied to antidepressants: study"


CBC.CA

Source: CBC.CA

Published: 22 Jul 2022

Category: Pharmaceutical

Rating: (3½ stars)

what they said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

Viagra's effect on women has been disappointing, but a new small study found those on antidepressants may benefit from taking the little blue pills.

The research involving 98 premenopausal women found Viagra helped with orgasm. But the benefits did not extend to other aspects of sex such as desire, researchers report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association...

The original article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/07/22/viagra-women.html

how did it rate? (more information)

Criteria Rating
Total Score 7 of 10
Availability of Treatment Satisfactory (?)
Novelty of Treatment Satisfactory (?)
Disease Mongering Not Satisfactory (?)
Treatment Options Satisfactory (?)
Costs of Treatment Not Satisfactory (?)
Evidence Not Satisfactory (?)
Quantification of Benefits of Treatment Satisfactory (?)
Harms of Treatment Satisfactory (?)
Sources of Information Satisfactory (?)
Relies on Press Release Not Applicable
Quantification of Harms of Treatment Satisfactory (?)

what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

While this story may verge on disease mongering by implying that all post menopausal women will need Viagra to deal with their sexual difficulties, it also included some very good attributes that you don't often see in health treatment stories. It made specific mention of the spokespeoples' conflicts of interest, it quantified the level of side effects, and it pointed out alternative treatments that are used to address sexual difficulties in women.

What is most dissatisfying about this research is how the researchers said Viagra, compared to placebo, showed better "improvement" on an overall scale; without knowing what that scale is, and whether it is meaningful for most women, we readers are left with an incomplete picture of the treatment.

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