Masoudeh Babakhanian - PhD Student, Student Research Committee, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
Ali Akbar Haghdoost - Professor, Research Center for Modelling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Mahdi Afshari - Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran
Fatemeh Taghizadeh - PhD Student, Student Research Committee, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
Mahmood Moosazadeh - Assistant Professor, Health Sciences Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

Background: Evaluation of sexual disorders among persons receiving methadone replacement therapy is of great importance, because these problems may lead to non-compliance and relapse. This study aimed to estimate the effect of methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) on sexual function among addicted Iranian men using met-analysis.Methods: Investigating the available data banks, relevant studies were identified. After exclusion of duplicates, irrelevant papers and low quality articles, eligible papers were entered into the meta-analysis. Prevalence and standardized mean difference of sexual function scores were illustrated by forest plots based on sexual desire, orgasm and erectile function.Findings: During the primary search, ۵۳۴۱ evidences were identified. After application of the inclusion/exclusion criteria and quality assessment, nine papers were detected eligible for final meta-analysis. Total prevalence [۹۵% confidence intervals (CI)] of sexual disorders and erectile dysfunction among Iranian men under methadone therapy were estimated as ۶۶.۳% (۲۷.۱-۱۰۵.۵) and ۷۷.۵% (۶۱.۹-۹۳.۱), respectively. The standardized mean differences (۹۵% CI) of Sexual desire, orgasm and erection before and after methadone therapy were estimated as ۰.۱۶ (-۰.۶۸, ۰.۹۹), -۰.۰۱ (-۰.۷۵, ۰.۷۴) and ۰.۱۱ (-۰.۴۱, ۰.۶۴), respectively.Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that methadone therapy did not significantly influence the sexual desire, erectile function and orgasm among opium dependent men.

Methadone Therapy, Sexual dysfunction, libido, Orgasm, Erection