, or King’s College London Business. The subscales of the ANNSERS examine areas such as sleep disturbance, aversive

subjective experience and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, anticholinergic, genitourinary and sexual problems. The sexual side-effects subscale of the ANNSERS includes ratings for loss of libido, problems of sexual arousal, orgasmic difficulties and change in menstruation for Natural Product Library nmr female patients. Ratings Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for male patients include loss of libido, erectile difficulties, delayed ejaculation and reduction in ejaculatory volume or intensity (Table 1). Ratings cover the 4 weeks prior to assessment. Table 1. Sexual side-effects subscale of the ANNSERSv1. The DISF-SR is a brief, self-report, multidimensional

and sex-keyed instrument designed to measure the quality of current sexual function across five key domains: sexual cognition and fantasy (five items); sexual arousal (five items); sexual behaviour and experiences (five items); orgasm (six items); and sexual drive and relationship (four items). The first three of these Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical key domains are scored using a nine-point scale from 0 (not at all) to 8 (four or more times per day); orgasm is scored using a five-point scale from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). The fifth domain, sexual drive and relationship, is scored using a combination of nine- and five-point scales. The aggregate total DISF-SR Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical score can be used repeatedly throughout efficacy or effectiveness studies without any significant practice effects or loss of validity [Derogatis, 1997]. Procedure We validated the sexual side-effects section of the ANNSERS using data from 26 participants who also completed the DISF-SR at baseline Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and 12 weeks after randomization to either an SGA or FGA drug. Data analysis Results were analysed using SPSS version 15 to carry out correlational analyses (Pearson’s r and Spearman’s rho). Results Demographic characteristics of the sample plus baseline scores on the DISF-SR and the sexual side effects section of the ANNSERS are

shown in Table 2. Table 2. Demographic data Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and baseline scores (ANNSERS, DISF-SR). We found a statistically also significant correlation between score on the DISF-SR and the sexual side-effect section of the ANNSERS at baseline, in the subsample of 26 patients with scores on both measures (r=−0.638, p=0.001). A lower score on the DISF-SR indicates greater sexual dysfunction, whereas a lower score on the ANNSERS points to fewer side effects. This correlation was specific as the other items in the ANNSERS showed no relationship with DISF-SR score (Spearman’s rho=−0.273, p=0.196). Discussion We validated the sexual side-effects section of the ANNSERS by finding a significant and specific relationship with score on the DISF-SR in a subgroup of participants (N=26) with schizophrenia or related disorder in a large UK treatment trial.