Background: The aim of this paper is to detect the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions among the patients entering addiction treatment, with respect to different substances. Methods: The whole group consisted of 522 patients with average age 36.4 years, 72.7 % were males. The patients, all with diagnosis of dependence, were divided into the groups according to the type of their addiction: opiate (heroin) users (n = 63), methamphetamine users (n = 90), cannabis users (n = 67), alcohol users (n = 228) and gamblers (n = 74). Results: The highest prevalence of sexual dysfunctions was in the group of the patients with heroin dependence – 33 %. Alcohol was the next with 21 %, followed by methamphetamine users 19 %, gambling 6 % and cannabis 2 % without any dysfunction. The significant differences were also in the age composition and gender among the groups. Females had higher proportion of sexual dysfunctions then the males. Conclusions: Heroin users with dependence have the highest rate of sexual dysfunction, followed by alcohol and methamphetamine users. Patient with cannabis dependence and gambling had the lowest rates, which might be partially attributable to the under-representation of the females in these groups of patients. Gender is playing an important role in this respect.

Key words: sexual dysfunction – dependence – psychoactive substances