OBJECTIVE: The review was conducted to determine the efficiency and safety of sildenafil citrate in female sexual dysfunction.

METHODS: Research databases used for this systematic review include Cochrane, Ovid, Sciencedirect, Journal of Urology and Pubmed. Manual search for literature utilized the following journals (The Journal of Urology, British Journal of Urology, and The Philippine Journal of Urology). Furthermore, correspondence from various institution-based researches (Unpublished: UST, St. Luke's, PGH, NKI) were also utilized. The search was performed using the following key words: female/woman, sexual dysfunction/female sexual dysfunction, and sildenafil citrate/phospophodiesterase 5 inhibitor. Limits of the literature search were: the human studies, English language, and randomized controlled trials/metaanalysis/systematic reviews/clinical trials; with no specified date limitation. Trials were identified for inclusion by two reviewers (MO, MG) using the main inclusion criteria mentioned above. Details for reason of inclusion or exclusion were thoroughly discussed and if unresolved, a third reviewer was sought for arbitration.

RESULTS: The studies included provided data on 1,471 patients, from which 1,195 completed the study. Out of the 8 articles, 6 were of high quality and 2 were classified as moderate quality.

CONCLUSIONS: In general, sildenafil citrate seems is efficacious in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. Doses of 10 to 100mg were well-tolerated with headache as the most common adverse event. In pre-menopausal women, it showed a Level I evidence in terms of outcome measures (favorable female sexual response; and in post-menopausal women, it showed an equivocal result based on contradicting outcomes of moderate to high quality studies.

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