Anti-depressants can have a long-term impact on libido years after patients have stopped taking the drugs, according to Dutch researchers.

Scientists at the Lareb centre, which registers the side effects of drugs, will soon publish an article in the psychiatrist magazine Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie warning about the problem, the Volkskrant says on Tuesday.

Scientific literature contains multiple cases of sexual problems in patients who have taken anti-depressants. They were relatively young and there were no other obvious causes, the Volkskrant says.

‘The combination of complaints which we have now heard is reason for us to point out that this can happen,’ Lareb said in a statement.

Until now it was thought that sexual problems cease once anti-depressants are no longer being used, the Volkskrant says.