Relationship of Blood Pressure and Erectile Dysfunction in Men Without Previously Diagnosed Hypertension

: Heikkilä Arto, Kaipia Antti, Venermo Maarit, Kautiainen Hannu, Korhonen Päivi

Publisher: Elsevier B.V.

: 2017

: Journal of Sexual Medicine

: 14

: 11

: 1336

: 1341

: 6

: 1743-6095

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2017.09.007

Background

Erectile
dysfunction (ED) is the most common male sexual disorder that affects
all age groups and has a close association with essential hypertension.

Aim

To characterize the relation of blood pressure and ED in detail.

Methods

A cross-sectional population-based study of 45- to 70-year-old men without previously diagnosed hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, renal disease, or diabetes was conducted from 2005 to 2007 in southwestern Finland. A total of 665 men with at least one cardiovascular risk factor were studied. ED was defined by the five-item International Index of Erectile Function.

Outcomes

We found a U-shaped association between diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of ED.

Results

The average age of the study subjects was 56 ± 6 years and 52% had ED. After adjustment for age, cohabitation status, education, fasting plasma glucose
level, waist circumference, and prevalence of depressive symptoms, the
curve relating DBP to the prevalence of ED was U-shaped with a nadir of
DBP 90 mm Hg.

Clinical Implications

Our findings emphasize the importance of blood pressure measurement in the physical examination of men with ED.

Strengths and Limitations

This
was a cross-sectional study, which prevents the evaluation of causality
between ED and hypertension. However, this community-based study
population is well defined and the anthropologic measurements were made
by trained medical staff.

Conclusion

We found a U-shaped correlation between ED and DBP, which confirms the link between ED and hypertension.