Erectile Dysfunction May Predict Heart Attacks

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Main Category: Erectile Dysfunction / Premature Ejaculation
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 25 Oct 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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An expert has written an article on bmj.com that suggests a link between heart attacks and erectile dysfunction. Dr Geoffrey Hackett (Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham, UK) says that erectile dysfunction gives a two to three year early warning of a heart attack, but doctors are largely ignoring the relationship.

Hackett writes that he noticed a pattern occurring over several years of practice - patients were referred to him with erectile dysfunction after a heart attack, but Hackett found out that the erectile dysfunction developed two to three years before the heart attack. This warning sign has been ignored by general practitioners.

Erectile dysfunction is a symptom of vascular disease in the smaller arteries, and previous research has linked the condition to a doubling of the risk of heart disease. In other words, people with erectile dysfunction have a similar risk of heart disease as moderate smokers or those with an immediate family history of heart disease. Similarly, in patients with type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction has proved to better predict the risk of heart disease than high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Hackett says that the difficulty lies in the prevailing attitude towards erectile dysfunction as a recreational or "lifestyle issue" instead of a serious health problem, even though considerable evidence exists to support the latter.

Although the UK government has indicated that it is committed to reducing the death rate from coronary heart disease and stroke in people under 75 by 40% by 2010, it still has not implemented systematic erectile dysfunction screening in patients with diabetes or heart disease.

Hackett concludes that, "Continuing to ignore these issues on the basis that cardiologists feel uncomfortable mentioning the word 'erection' to their patients or that they may have to deal with the management of a positive response, is no longer acceptable and possibly, based on current evidence, clinically negligent."

Erectile dysfunction predicts cardiovascular risk in men
Geoffrey I Hackett
BMJ (2008). 337:a2166
doi:10.1136/bmj.a2166
Click Here to View Journal Website

Written by: Peter M Crosta
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