Clinical value of serum 5-HT level in diagnosis and treatment of premature ejaculation

Urol Int. 2013;90(2):214-8. doi: 10.1159/000343736. Epub 2012 Nov 27.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate serum 5-HT level in premature ejaculation (PE) patients and evaluate its clinical value in diagnosis and treatment of PE.

Methods: 71 patients were recruited in this study. Their serums were collected before and after sertraline treatment, while serums from 64 normal males were also collected as a control. Serum 5-HT level was detected by ELISA. SPSS 17.0 software was used to analyze the level of serum 5-HT and the ROC curve was drawn.

Results: The average serum 5-HT level of PE patients was 61.9 ng/ml in our study, which was significantly lower than that of the control group (120.6 ng/ml), with statistical significance (p < 0.01). After sertraline treatment, the average serum 5-HT level in PE patients was 98.9 ng/ml, which was significantly higher than that before sertraline treatment. Sensitivity and specificity for serum 5-HT as a predictive diagnostic tool for PE were 92.2 and 93.0%, respectively, and the cutoff value of serum 5-HT was 86.4 ng/ml.

Conclusions: Our study showed that serum 5-HT level may be used as a functional diagnostic tool for PE and an indicator in PE treatment.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • Ejaculation*
  • Humans
  • Inflammation
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • ROC Curve
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Serotonin / blood*
  • Sertraline / therapeutic use
  • Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / blood*
  • Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / diagnosis*
  • Software

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Serotonin
  • Sertraline