Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on sexual activity in 50 - 60 years menopausal women in Tehran

Sexual aspect is one of the most important domains of matrimony satisfaction. Sexual satisfaction has an important role in psychological health of women. Hormonal changes that occur in menopausal period can result in decrease of sexual satisfaction. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) on sexual function in menopausal women. In this Triple-blind placebo-controlled trial، 80 healthy female volunteers aged 60 – 50 years، attending 3 health-care centers of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS)، were enrolled. The participants received GBE at a dose of 120–240 mg (n = 40) or placebo (n = 40) daily for 30 days. The instrument of this study was the Sabbatsberg Sexual Rating Scale (SSRS) which the part of it subjectively evaluate sexual satisfaction before and after intervention. The results were analyzed by using، Fisher exact test، independent samples test and Mann-Whitney Test which these had done by SPSS software، version of 16. After intervention، the sexual satisfaction had no significant difference between the two groups of Ginkgo biloba and placebo (P = 0. 31). Also there was no significant difference in the sexual satisfaction compared to the results obtained in the previous years (0. 96) In this study using Ginkgo biloba for a month had no effect on sexual satisfaction of menopausal women. With regarded to many factors can be affected sexual function of menopausal women، no efficacy of Ginkgo biloba on sexual satisfaction can be result of no efficacy of it on factors such as psychological factors.