The effect of on-demand caffeine consumption on treating patients with premature ejaculation: a double-blind randomized clinical trial.

Abstract

Premature ejaculation (PE) is an important and common sexual issue in male adults, since its etiology is still unknown. There are many suggested treatments such as paroxetine, clomipramine, dapoxetine, tramadol and topical agents; all of them have stigma or considerable side effects. Therefore, present study aimed to examine the effect of on-demand caffeine consumption on treating patients with PE. In this double blind RCT, 40 otherwise healthy individuals with PE were allocated into 2 groups of caffeine and placebo group. The caffeine group received 100 mg encapsulated caffeine for 3 weeks, 2 hours prior to each intercourse. Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) and index of sexual satisfaction (ISS) were measured before and after treatment in both groups. Suitable statistical analysis was performed. (Registration code: IRCT2013091614677N1). Mean age of the participants was 39.88±8.72 years. No significant difference was found between pre-treatment and post-treatment values of both IELT and ISS in the placebo group, but significant difference was seen in post treatment values between our two groups and pre-treatment and post-treatment values of the caffeine group (IELT: 144s vs 312s, p<0.001 and ISS: 77 vs 97, p<0.001; respectively). Furthermore, high significant correlation was found in post-treatment values (r>0.07, p<0.05). There are negligible scientific evidences regarding the beneficial effects of caffeine on several aspects of sexual life, which makes comparison impossible. Considering the fact that caffeine is a well-known and widely used drug in common disease, using this compound will not result in any stigma. Our study demonstrates that 100mg on-demand caffeine can significantly increase both IELT and ISS. Furthermore, the slope of these increasings is correlated with each other. More studies are needed to make stronger conclusions.