Health-Seeking Behavior for Erectile Dysfunction in Methadone Maintenance Treatment Patients

Fitri Fareez Ramli, Ahmad Nazrun Shuid, Rashidi Mohamed Pakri Mohamed, Tg Mohd Ikhwan Tg Abu Bakar Sidik and Isa Naina Mohamed
Additional contact information
Fitri Fareez Ramli: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ahmad Nazrun Shuid: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Rashidi Mohamed Pakri Mohamed: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tg Mohd Ikhwan Tg Abu Bakar Sidik: Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Unit, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Isa Naina Mohamed: Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Unit, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 21, 1-9

Abstract: Background : Erectile dysfunction (ED) is commonly associated with methadone usage. However, little data is known regarding the health-seeking behavior for ED in the methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) population. This study aimed to determine the health-seeking behavior of MMT patients with ED who perceived themselves as having ED. We aimed to assess the attitudes and health-seeking behavior, the effectiveness of the treatment and the factors associated with treatment-seeking behavior. Methods : This was an observational questionnaire-based study. Patients were first screened for ED ( n = 154) using the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5). Fifty patients with ED were evaluated for health-seeking behavior for ED. Results : More than half of the patients who thought they had ED (78%) believed their sex life was affected. Most patients (48%) did not seek any information regarding ED. Education level ( p = 0.017) and marital status ( p = 0.008) were predictive factors of health-seeking behavior. Conclusions : The health-seeking rate among MMT patients with ED needs to be improved. Measures to increase awareness of ED in MMT patients should be taken to overcome the barrier to health-seeking behavior. Health practitioners should take action to screen ED in this population to increase the detection rate and offer appropriate management according to the patients’ needs.

Keywords: health-seeking behavior; methadone; erectile dysfunction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4249/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4249/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4249-:d:282512

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().