Erectile dysfunction could portend heart disease and early death: study

A new study points to the possibility that rather than being an issue in and of itself, the inability to get an erection may portend an early death.(ShutterStock)

Male erectile dysfunction — or in lay terms, a guy’s inability to perform in bed — has often been attributed to a lack of testosterone.

But now a new study points to the possibility that rather than being an issue in and of itself, the inability to get it up may portend an early death — and not just of one’s sex life.

Regardless of testosterone levels, men with erectile dysfunction are at a higher risk of death, said researchers for the study published, in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

“As both vascular disease and low testosterone levels can influence erectile function, sexual symptoms can be an early sign for increased cardiovascular risk and mortality,” lead researcher Dr. Leen Antonio, KU Leuven-University Hospitals in Belgium, said in a statement.

The team examined data from the European Male Ageing Study, initially designed to investigate age-related hormonal changes and various health outcomes in elderly men, the researchers’ statement said.

Analyzing data from 1,913 participants aged 40 to 79 in five medical centers, they looked at the relationship between the subjects’ hormone measurements and sexual function at the beginning of the study, then checked whether they were still alive more than 12 years later.

Over the next 12.4 years, 483 men, or 25%, died.

“In men with normal total testosterone levels, the presence of sexual symptoms, particularly erectile dysfunction, increased the risk of death by 51% compared with men without these symptoms,” the researchers said.

They found that “men with low total testosterone levels and sexual symptoms had a higher risk of death compared with men with normal testosterone levels and no sexual symptoms.”

When it came to erectile dysfunction, “poor morning erections and low libido had a higher mortality risk compared to men with no sexual symptoms,” the study said.

“In men with these three sexual symptoms, the risk of dying was almost 1.8 times higher compared to men without symptoms,” the researchers found. “In men with just erectile dysfunction, the risk of dying was 1.4 times higher compared to men without erectile dysfunction.”

The findings made sense to experts, given that erections are all about blood flow, and clogged arteries, or cardiovascular disease, can impede that flow. These vessels, smaller than coronary arteries, could be a harbinger of what is going to happen in the heart, said Antonio, especially when it comes to atherosclerosis, which is when plaque builds up in arteries, obstructing blood flow.

“This means that in men with atherosclerosis, the blood flow in the penile vessels is compromised earlier than in the coronary arteries,” Antonio told CNN. “Men dealing with sexual symptoms should keep in mind that sexual symptoms could be an early warning sign of poor or worsening health status as well as an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality.”