Prevalence and biopsychosocial correlates of erectile dysfunction in Hong Kong: a population-based study

To describe the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in Hong Kong and identify the biopsychosocial correlates of ED.

This was a descriptive and analytic population-representative cross-sectional study of ED in Hong Kong. The study subjects were 1506 men aged 26 to 70 years, recruited by two-stage stratified random sampling, and interviewed face-to-face by trained interviewers with structured questionnaires.

The overall prevalence of ED was 36.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 33.7 to 39.7). The age-specific prevalence rate was 18.3% (95% CI 11.1% to 25.4%), 28.6% (95% CI 23.5% to 33.6%), 37.9% (95% CI 32.3% to 43.5%), 47.3% (95% CI 40.1% to 54.5%), and 61.1% (95% CI 51.1% to 71.0%) for the age groups 26 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, 51 to 60, and 61 to 70 years, respectively. The severity of ED increased with age (P <0.01), and sexual satisfaction decreased with age (P = 0.01). Age (odds ratio [OR] 1.26, P <0.01), living on Hong Kong Island (OR 0.71, P = 0.04), General Health Questionnaire score (OR 1.03, P <0.01), current smokers of 30 or more cigarettes per day (OR 2.11, P = 0.05), and hours spent on work, housework, and self-study (OR 0.945, P = 0.03) were independently associated with ED.

To our knowledge, this is the first population-representative study of ED in Hong Kong. The prevalence and severity of ED increased with age, and we found biological (age), psychological (General Health Questionnaire), and social (smoking, Hong Kong district, "hours spent on work") factors to have independent influences on ED. The negative association between "hours spent on work" and ED is a novel finding. The results of this study have shown that Hong Kong has a high prevalence of ED compared with Western populations.