Erectile dysfunction doubles heart disease risk in younger men

Washington, Feb 3 (ANI): Males who experience erectile dysfunction between the ages of 40 and 49 are twice as likely to develop heart disease, as opposed to men with no dysfunction, according to a new study.

The Mayo Clinic research found that men with erectile dysfunction have an 80 percent higher risk of heart disease.

"The highest risk for coronary heart disease was in younger men," says researcher Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D.

The study has been was published in the February 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The findings suggest that younger men and their doctors may need to consider erectile dysfunction a harbinger of future risk of coronary heart disease -and take appropriate steps to prevent it, says Dr. St. Sauver.

"The importance of the study cannot be overstated," writes Martin Miner, M.D., in an editorial in the same issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The results "raise the possibility of a 'window of curability,' in which progression of cardiac disease might be slowed or halted by medical intervention," writes Dr. Miner, who practices at the Men's Health Center, Miriam Hospital, Providence, R.I.

For the Mayo Clinic study, the investigators identified 1,402 men who lived in Olmsted County, Minn., in 1996 and did not have heart disease. Every two years for 10 years, these men were assessed for urological and sexual health.

Answers to questions from the Brief Male Sexual Function Inventory, a statistically validated questionnaire, were used to determine erectile dysfunction. The baseline prevalence of erectile dysfunction in study participants was: 2.4 percent in men aged 40-49; 5.6 percent in men aged 50-59; 17 percent in men aged 60-69 and 38.8 percent in men 70 years and older.

Those initial data and the increasing incidence of erectile dysfunction over time were linked to data from a long-term study of heart disease in Olmsted County residents, led by Veronique Roger, M.D., Mayo Clinic cardiologist.

Over 10 years of follow-up, researchers found that men with erectile dysfunction were 80 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease compared to men without erectile dysfunction.

The highest risk of new heart disease was seen in the youngest study participants who had erectile dysfunction. In men 40 to 49 years old when the study began, the number of new cases in men with erectile dysfunction was more than 50-fold higher than in men without erectile dysfunction.

In men in their 50s, 60s and 70s, the total incidence of new cases of heart disease also was higher in those with erectile dysfunction. (ANI)