Linking erectile dysfunction and coronary heart disease

Main Category: Erectile Dysfunction / Premature Ejaculation
Article Date: 07 Jun 2004 - 21:00 PST


According to the American National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC), erectile dys-function (ED) can be a total inability to achieve erection, the inconsistent ability to do so, or the tendency to sustain only brief erections.

While these variations make defining ED and estimating its incidence difficult, the NKUDIC estimates between 15 and 30 million Americans suffer from the condition, depending on the definition used. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 7.7 physician office visits were made for ED in 1985 for every 1,000 men in the United States, but that rate nearly tripled to 22.3 by 1999.

The NKUDIC says ED usually has a physical cause in older men, such as disease, injury, or side effects of drugs, and any disorder that causes injury to the nerves or impairs blood flow in the penis has the potential to cause ED. According to Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, the five main coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors are cholesterol, blood pressure, cigarette smoking, obesity, and diabetes, and recent research has suggested these risk factors can also be linked to ED.

"Erectile dysfunction has only recently been linked to CHD, but many clinicians who treat patients with high blood pressure or diabetes have known these risk factors can make some patients more likely to have erectile dysfunction," says Dr. Barrett-Connor. "However, for other physicians, connecting the two conditions may not be so obvious."

Dr. Barrett-Connor and colleagues examined data from the Rancho Bernardo Study Group, a middle-aged population of relatively healthy adults who have been followed for more than 25 years. Men who had more CHD risk factors during middle age had more ED later in life. According to Dr. Barrett-Connor, if a patient has already been diagnosed with CHD, that individual may already be discussing erectile dysfunction with their physician.

"A lot of men after being diagnosed with CHD will ask their physician if they will be able to have sex again," says Dr. Barrett-Connor. "They are concerned about whether or not the strenuous physical activity of a sexual act will cause them to have another heart attack. In these situations, the patient will bring up the subject of sexual intercourse, and it is easier for the physician to talk about erectile dysfunction."

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