Depression is among the most common psychiatric disorders seen in primary care. Sexual dysfunction is often present in patients diagnosed with depression, but the temporality of the association is not clear. The aim of the present study is to ascertain sexual dysfunction for men and for women relative to diagnosis of depression in the UK patients' population providing an insight into these conditions.

A case-control design was used to assess the incidence of sexual dysfunction every year in the five year period pre- and post depression diagnosis. Depressed patients (8,221 in UK ffGPRD database) were matched by age, sex and time in the database to non-depressed patients. Significance tests were carried and risk ratios were calculated at each time-point in the 10 year follow-up.

The incidence rate of sexual dysfunction for cases (4.9 events/1000 person-years) and for controls (2.66 events/1000 person-years) were found to be significantly different (p ≤ 0.001). The incidence rate for the individuals sexual disorders (erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and low libido were also significantly different.In addition, the risk ratios for the above conditions calculated by year in the five year period pre- and post diagnosis of depression were statistically significant from the date of diagnosis of depression. Further analysis was also undertaken to explore the observed patterns in the data.

Sexual dysfunction diagnosis differs significantly between cases and controls, particularly after diagnosis of depression. This raises questions regarding management of depression and its effect on sexual dysfunction.