Erectile Dysfunction May Be Linked With Cardiovascular Trouble

Independent Risk Factor for Heart Disease, Stroke and Death

Although it is well accepted that cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED), it has not been clear whether ED is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Reasearchers at Soochow University, China have established a significant association between ED and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, heart disease, stroke and death.

Qin Li-Qiang and colleagues culled data on the relationship between ED and cardiovascular disease from 12 studies published 2005and 2011 that include a total of 36,744 people and an average follow-up of 4 to 16.2 years*.

They found that men with Erectile Dysfunction had

48% increased risk for Cardiovascular Disease

46% increased risk for Heart Disease

35% increased risk for Stroke, and a

19% increased of Dying of any cause

compared to men without ED,

Even after taking risk factors such as age, weight, blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and smoking into account, there as still a 54 percent increased risk for carbiovascular disease associated with ED alone. The reasons for this association are unclear, the reaserachers noted.

However, based on these findings, Qin’s group now thinks ED is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and not just an early marker of the disease.

Journal Reference

Jia-Yi Dong, Yong-Hong Zhang, Li-Qiang Qin. Erectile Dysfunction and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2011;58:1378-1385, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2011.06.024

* This process, called a meta-analysis, tries to pool data from several sources to tease out a pattern that might not be obvious in a single study.

For more information on erectile dysfunction (ED), visit the US National Library of Medicine.

The Zestzfulness Team advises men with ED to take proactive steps to talk to their medical doctor today, while adopting a healthy lifestyle to better control their cardiovascular risk factors:

• Cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Diet
• Hypertension
• Obesity
• Physical Inactivity
• Stress
• Tobacco