Objective: To assess the effectiveness of dapoxetine in the treatment of premature ejaculation.
Methods: Both English and Chinese studies involving men with prematrue ejaculation who were treated with dapoxetine from the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE and CNKI, CBM, VIP between 1979 and 2009.were included in the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the data processed by RevMan.
Results: Five RCTs involving 4433 patients were included in the Meta analysis, of which 3 were of grade A and 2 were of grade B according to the quality evaluation of methodology. Intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT), patient-reported global impression of change (PGI), satisfaction with sexual intercourse (SWSI), perceived control over ejaculation (PCOE), personal distress related to ejaculation (PDRE) were used for assessment. Meta analysis based on included studies of patients having been treated with dapoxetine for 9-24 weeks showed that: (1) the difference of the patients' IELT between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, WMD (95%CI) was 1.38 (1.21,1.55)]; (2) the difference of the PGI of development in premature ejaculation between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, OR (95%CI) was 3.56 (2.60,4.88)]; (3) the difference of the patients' SWSI between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, OR (95%CI) was 3.85 (2.08,7.10)]; the difference of the patients' score of SWSI between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, WMD (95%CI) was 0.55 (0.48,0.62)]; (4) the difference of the patients' change of PCOE between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, OR (95%CI) was 2.87(2.30,3.58)]; the difference of the patients' score of PCOE between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, WMD (95%CI) was 0.63(0.49,0.78)]; (5) after being treated with dapoxetine for 9-24 weeks, the difference of the patients' change of PDRE between treatment group and control group was statistically significant [P<0.001, OR (95%CI) was 2.02 (1.69,2.42)]. All the RCTs reported the side effects of dapoxetine, but the results showed that there were no serious side effects of dapoxetine during the treatment period.
Conclusion: The available evidence indicates that dapoxetine would improve the symptoms of premature ejaculation, prolong IELT over 9-24 weeks in men from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and significantly improve all patients' reported outcomes and the patients' clinical global impressions of premature ejaculation, including more control, greater satisfaction, and less distress.