Comorbidity between Social Phobia and Premature Ejaculation: Study on 242 Males Affected by Sexual Disorders

Several studies have reported high comorbidity between psychiatric and sexual disorders, particularly between anxiety and mood disorders and sexual dysfunction. The goal of the present study is to examine the comorbidity between premature ejaculation and Axis I psychiatric disorders. Of 242 males referred to an outpatient clinic of sexology between November 2000 and July 2003, 52 were diagnosed with premature ejaculation (PE). These patients were also administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1995 First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M. and Williams, J. B. W. 1995. Structured clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders , patient edition, New York: New York State Osychiatric Institute. [Google Scholar]) for the evaluation of Axis I psychiatric disorders and a modified SCID based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 2000 American Psychological Association. 2000. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , 4th ed., Washington, DC: Author. text rev.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) criteria for the evaluation of sexual disorders. We also determined the age of onset of the disorders. We found that 21.5% of the overall clinical population was affected by PE, and 64.4% of PE patients were affected by at least one Axis I psychiatric disorder. PE was highly associated (p = 0.015) with social phobia (SP), with an odds ratio of 2.55. The debut of SP preceded the onset of PE. Social phobia may represent risk factor for the development of PE, and adrenergic hyperactivity may represent a pathophysiology common to both disorders.