Preliminary report of association of chronic diseases and erectile dysfunction in middle-aged men in Japan

To investigate the effect of chronic diseases on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japanese middle-aged men using the International Index of Erectile Function, 5-item version (IIEF-5).

The subjects consisted of 640 healthy men and 396 men with chronic disease who responded to the IIEF-5 questionnaire (mean age 43.6 +/- 8.3 years, range 30 to 59). The incidence and severity of ED were calculated in three age groups (30 to 39, 40 to 49, and 50 to 59 years).

The incidence of hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus, and chronic renal failure was associated with the incidence and severity of ED, as was age. In stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis, cardiac disease was the strongest independent risk factor (odds ratio [OR] 6.5), followed by diabetes mellitus (OR 5.9), chronic renal failure (OR 3.9), hypertension (OR 2.0), and age (OR 1.8).

The results of this study demonstrated that the risk of ED increases with the presence of cardiac disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure, and hypertension in middle-aged men in Japan.