title: Clinical trials and human sexuality: basic concepts and problems.
abstract: In considering the evaluation of pharmacological agents in the treatment of sexual dysfunction, four fundamental issues are discussed in this paper: (1) most pharmacological agents which have been used for this purpose act on neurotransmitter systems which are not specific to sexual response; (2) even when a sexually relevant pharmacological effect can be assumed, its effect on sexual behavior will be modulated by information processing; (3) the first attempts to evaluate the agent should focus on direct effects on the individual receiving the drug; and (4) evaluation of the relevance of the direct pharmacological effect on the well-being of a sexual relationship requires control of the considerable variance which exists in the capacity for change in sexual relationships.
authors.affiliation: Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bancroft
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D019529:Sexuality / Q000502:physiology*