Erectile dysfunction independently tied to CV events

(HealthDay)—Erectile dysfunction (ED) is independently associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a research letter published online June 11 in Circulation.

S.M. Iftekhar Uddin, M.B.B.S., M.S.P.H., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues leveraged the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis to examine the value of self-reported ED for predicting incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and CVD. A total of 1,914 male participants were considered for the analysis; 1,757 participants were followed for 3.8 years.

The researchers found that 45.8 percent of participants had ED symptoms. Participants with ED were more likely to have diabetes mellitus; a family history of CHD; and to use β-blocker, antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, and antidepressant medications. Forty CHD and 75 CVD hard events occurred during follow-up; significantly more participants with versus without ED experienced hard events (CHD: 3.4 versus 1.4 percent; CVD: 6.3 versus 2.6 percent). ED remained a significant predictor of CVD hard events in the fully-adjusted model (hazard ratio, 1.9), while the correlation with CHD hard events became nonsignificant. In the shifted-time cross-sectional analysis, prior CVD was significantly associated with ED at visit five (odds ratio, 2.1); the correlation was attenuated, but remained significant, with adjustment for medication use and depression (odds ratio, 1.7).

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