December 21, 2005 - JAMA –

Men with erectile dysfunction are in greater risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke or angina in comparison to those, who have no problems with erection. That is the result of a study, carried out by Ian M. Thompson, MD and his colleagues from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

It is known that more than 10 million of men in the United States of America suffer from erectile dysfunction. Every year about 600 000 new cases are added to this quantity. Taking into account certain similarity in etiology and risk factors of erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular diseases, scientists suggested that ED can be one of the symptoms of some heart and vascular problems.

A big study was initiated to prove this suggestion. 9457 men, aged 55 years or older, participated in the survey, which lasted 7 years. All the participants were examined for erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases every 3 months. During the study, scientists took into account many factors, potentially leading to ED and cardiovascular diseases, such as age, body mass index, diabetes, blood pressure, family history of heart attack, smoking, physical activity and quality of life.

At the beginning of the study 85% of all participants did not suffer from any cardiovascular disease. 47 % of them had erectile dysfunction at study entry. This fact demonstrates once more that impotence affects up to every second men after 55 years old.

57% of those men, who did not have ED at the beginning of study, reported incident erectile dysfunction after 5 years. After the necessary adjustment, scientists found out that those men, who reported about incident ED, had the 25% increased risk to develop cardiovascular events. For those men, who experienced either incident or prevalent erectile dysfunction, the rate of increased risk was 45 %.

The authors of this study underline: “The implications of this study are substantial” and “Our data provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of a strong association between erectile dysfunction and subsequent development of clinical cardiovascular events”.

Taking into account the results of this study, scientists consider that the patients with symptoms of erectile dysfunction, initially contacting their physicians for treatment, should be also screened for standard cardiovascular risk factors. In case of necessity, special medical interventions should be initiated to protect the cardiovascular system.

Finally, it should be mentioned, that this study shows the necessity to perceive erectile dysfunction properly and adequately. People should never ignore this disorder and treat it as a natural component of aging. As we see from the study results, erectile dysfunction can notify of much more serious health problems, than just inability to perform a sexual intercourse.

Nick

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External resources
http://pubs.ama-assn.org/media/2005j/1220.dtl#men
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/294/23/2996
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=35238

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