Erectile Dysfunction – The Facts
Snippet from the study published in Archives of Internal Medicine:
Background: The prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) and associated risk factors has been described in many clinical settings, but there is little information regarding men seen by primary care physicians. We sought to identify independent factors associated with ED in a primary care setting.Conclusions: Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, future coronary risk, and increasing fasting glucose levels are independently associated with ED. It remains to be determined if ED precedes the development of these conditions.
Read the abstract or read the full study [PDF]
This is a study of 3921 Canadian men ranging from 40 to 88 years old originally published in 2006. A worthwhile read. Although the study doesn’t reference hair loss drugs, erectile dysfunction (ED) from finasteride is a hot topic here and I wanted to point out that the presence of ED is known in the population. Medication is not the only possible cause.
Propecia (finasteride) may be the cause in a minority of cases, but ED exists in the general population with statistics presented in this article.
The vast majority of ED studies are for patients 40 years old and higher. The only study I have seen that investigated ED in 20 to 40 year olds found that 0% of patients in their 20s had moderate or severe symptoms.
This makes sense as the risk factors mentioned in the referenced study are rarely prevalent in younger adult males. I would be interested if anybody had access to a study that investigated the prevalence of ED in younger males.