Erectile dysfunction is strong predictor of fatal heart ailments, German study finds [View All]

[IDemo]

Source: Los Angeles Times

For the first time, researchers have shown that erectile dysfunction is a strong predictor of the likelihood that men will die of heart disease.

Men who suffer from the problem, which some consider more an emotional than a physical issue, are twice as likely to succumb to cardiovascular disease or heart attacks as those who do not have the problem, German researchers reported Monday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Assn.

Researchers have known for years that there is a link between erectile dysfunction, commonly abbreviated as ED, and heart disease, said Dr. Sahil Parikh, an interventional cardiologist from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, who was not involved in the study. "But now there is pretty clear evidence that there is a substantially increased risk of heart attack and death when patients have erectile dysfunction," he said.

The results are probably not too surprising, added Dr. Robert Kloner, a cardiologist at USC's Keck School of Medicine, "because arteries in the penis are smaller, so atherosclerosis shows up there sooner," perhaps three to four years before the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-ed-heart16-2010mar16,0,320804.story