Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors: Irrational use in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

ObjectiveTo identify the criteria of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5i) users and to analyse the knowledge, attitude, and practices of PDE5i use amongst Saudi men.Subjects and methodsA web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Saudi Arabia between January and April 2015. Sexually active adult men were interviewed using a website questionnaire designed by the authors. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.ResultsIn all, 1008 men participated in the survey with 378 (37.5%) reporting use of PDE5i. Of those using PDE5i, 144 (38.1%) reported erectile dysfunction and 234 (61.9%) reported normal erection (recreational users). We found several demographic features, including high education level, health field occupation, high income, smoking, and increased frequency of sexual intercourse amongst the PDE5i users. Most of the PDE5i users (92.3%) had knowledge about PDE5i and 84.1% of them bought it without medical prescription. The most commonly used PDE5i was tadalafil (46.1%) and most of the users (79.9%) reported improvement in their sexual activity after PDE5i usage. Amongst the recreational users, the main reasons for PDE5i usage were curiosity (38.5%) and improving self-confidence (25.6%). Of them, 69.2% reported benefits from PDE5i usage, mainly in the form of enhancement of erection (36.7%) and increasing erection duration (31.2%).ConclusionPDE5i use appears to be frequent in Saudi Arabia. Most of the users had knowledge about PDE5i and claimed to get benefits from it, even if used as a recreational drug.

Top 10 most used drugs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2010–2015

“…Over the counter selling of erectile dysfunction is common in community pharmacies. Recent study investigated the use of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors (PDEIs) in a sample of 1008 Saudi men and reported that vast majority of PDEIs users bought them without prescription (Alshahrani et al, 2016).…”

Demographics and sexual characteristics of sex-enhancing medication users: Study of a web-based cross-sectional sample of sexually active men

“…The questionnaire used in the survey has been published [13] and we therefore describe it only briefly here. The survey was based on 36 open and closed questions, which were divided in to three major parts: demographic and clinical characteristics, sexual characteristics, and assessment of S-EM perception amongst sexually active participants.…”

Study of the prevalence and patterns of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor use among sexually active Egyptian males: A National Cross‐sectional Survey

“…Only 27.2% used PDE5Is to treat ED. Similarly, multiple previous studies showed that the majority of PDE5I users had obtained them for recreational purposes (Alshahrani et al, ; Harte & Meston, ; Santtila et al, ). Furthermore, Shaeer and Shaeer () who investigated the prevalence of PDE5I use in Arabic countries through the ‘Global Online Sexuality Survey (GOSS)’ which was an Internet‐based survey investigating male and female sexual functions found only 38.7% reported using PDE5Is before.…”

“…Sildenafil was the most commonly used PDE5I in our study (90.6%), and this is compatible with other multiple studies which stated that sildenafil was the most commonly used PDE5I (Bechara, Casabé, Bonis, Helien, & Bertolino, ; Freitas, Menezes, Antonialli, & Nascimento, ). On the contrary, Alshahrani et al () found that tadalafil was the most commonly used. This could be related to the cheaper price of sildenafil products in the Egyptian market compared to vardenafil and tadalafil products.…”