Early Erectile Dysfunction May Predict Heart Disease

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Erectile dysfunction in men 40 to 49 years old is associated with a doubled risk of heart disease, according to a recent study. And men with erectile dysfunction overall have an 80 percent greater chance of developing a heart condition. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, who published their work in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, found that this increase in the potential for heart disease was not nearly so great in men who developed erectile dysfunction in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

Jennifer St. Sauver, one of the researchers, said doctors might be well advised to take early erectile dysfunction as a predictor of future heart conditions, and to take steps to intervene medically in such cases to fend off later heart disease. It’s thought that erectile dysfunction and heart disease are linked because they may have a common root.

For example, plaque may build up on the interior walls of penile arteries at the same time as it collects on the inner surfaces of the coronary arteries, blocking the penile arteries first and causing early erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction affects 5 percent to 10 percent of men 40 years old. But the percentage of those affected climbs quickly to 40 percent to 60 percent by age 70.

In the 10-year study, 1,402 male subjects were chosen in 1996 who lived in Olmsted County, Minn., and exhibited no heart disease. The men were given a urological and sexual-health checkup every two years. The research team additionally used data from a long-term study of heart disease in the same county that also made note of the onset of erectile dysfunction. They found that over a 19-year period men with erectile dysfunction had an 80 percent greater incidence of heart disease than those without the sexual condition.

The youngest, or 40- to 49-year-old, group with erectile dysfunction had the very highest risk of developing a heart condition. But with men 50 and above with erectile dysfunction, the incidence of heart disease was elevated but not nearly as pronounced as in the youngest group. St. Sauver said that, for these older men, erectile dysfunction thus may not be as important a predictor of future heart disease as for younger men.

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Early Erectile Dysfunction May Predict Heart Disease

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