Study: Erectile dysfunction may predict heart risk, death

ED, also known as impotence, is the failure to get an erection or keep an erection long enough for sexual intercourse. Drugs like antidepressants and tranquilizers, imbalanced hormone levels, heart disease, injuries related to brain or spinal cord, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, psychological issues and certain lifestyle conditions can cause erectile dysfunction.

ED and overall death risk
Now, a novel study suggests that men with cardiovascular disease may have double the risk of death if they also suffer from erectile dysfunction than those who do not have trouble achieving or maintaining an erection.

Not only this, ED may double a person’s chances of having a heart attack. It’s, in fact, a strong predictor of the likelihood that men will die of heart disease, the new research shows for the first time.

"Erectile dysfunction is something that regularly should be addressed in the medical history of patients; it might be a symptom of early atherosclerosis," said Dr. Michael Bohm, M.D., lead author of the study and chairman of internal medicine in the Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care at the University of Saarland, Germany.

ED may double a person’s chances of having a heart attack. It’s, in fact, a strong predictor of the likelihood that men will die of heart disease.

Study details
To determine that ED is predictive of death and cardiovascular outcomes, Dr. Bohm and colleagues studied 1,519 men from 13 countries in a sub-study of the ONTARGET and TRANSCEND trials of cardiovascular patients.

In the ONTARGET study, researchers had looked at the effectiveness of a ramipril/telmisartan combination in patients with cardiovascular disease, and in the TRANSCEND study, experts had examined the effects of telmisartan in patients who were intolerant of ACE inhibitors.

The participants were also queried about their ED at the beginning of the study, two years into it and at the end of five years.

Study findings
Dr. Bohm and colleagues reported Monday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association that in the five years of follow-up, men with ED were 1.6 times more likely to have a heart attack, had a 20 percent greater chance of being hospitalized due to heart failure, and had a 10 percent increased risk for stroke, compared with men who do not have erectile dysfunction, which some consider more an emotional than a physical issue. The risks increased with the severity of the ED.

"The present data clearly show that ED is closely associated with an increased risk for all-cause deaths, as well as the primary composite outcome of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and hospitalization for heart failure," the research team wrote in their report, according to MedPageToday.

"The evaluation of ED in the medical history as an early symptom of endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis and as a predictor of death and future cardiovascular events might be relevant to identify patients at particularly high risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event."

Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile Dysfunction is a medical term that defines the repeated inability of a man to attain or sustain an erection firm enough to carry-on and complete a sexual intercourse.

More precisely, ED is defined as the combination of: (1) total inability to achieve erection, (2) an inconsistent ability to do so and (3) a tendency to sustain only brief erections.

Although it’s typically caused by the aforementioned medical problems; smoking, excessive alcohol intake, being overweight, avoiding exercise are some possible causes of erectile dysfunction.

The problem, known to increase with age, affects as high as 50 percent men aging between 40 and 70 years.