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.

Keywords:
Premature ejaculation, Serum 5-HT level, Sertraline, ROC curve, Diagnosis, Treatment
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2012
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