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Severity of coronary artery disease and symptoms of erectile dysfunction in males with a positive exercise treadmill

Hakan Akilli1, Hasan Gok, Ahmet Soylu

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Meram Medical School of Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey.

International Journal of Urology : Official Journal of the Japanese Urological Association
|August 8, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Erectile dysfunction, indicated by a low Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) score, can predict severe coronary artery disease (CAD) in men with positive exercise treadmill tests (ETT). A SHIM score below 18 suggests a high likelihood of multivessel CAD.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Men's Health
  • Sexual Health

Background:

  • Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of mortality in men.
  • Erectile dysfunction (ED) is increasingly recognized as a potential early marker for cardiovascular disease.
  • The exercise treadmill test (ETT) is a common diagnostic tool for CAD, but its predictive accuracy for disease severity can be enhanced.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the predictive value of erectile dysfunction, specifically using the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) score, for the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD).
  • To determine if ED can serve as an independent predictor of significant coronary artery lesions in men undergoing ETT.

Main Methods:

  • 105 male patients with chest pain and a positive ETT, without prior diagnosed CAD, were included.
  • Patients completed the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) questionnaire.
  • Coronary angiography was performed to classify patients into four groups based on CAD severity: normal coronary artery (NCA), single-vessel (1 V), two-vessel (2 V), and three-vessel (3 V) disease.

Main Results:

  • Median SHIM scores were significantly lower in patients with two-vessel (15) and three-vessel (13) CAD compared to those with normal (22) or single-vessel (22) CAD (P < 0.05).
  • The SHIM score was identified as an independent predictor for the presence of significant lesions in two or more coronary arteries (odds ratio: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.73-0.97; P = 0.019).

Conclusions:

  • A SHIM score below 18 in men with a positive ETT may indicate a high probability of multivessel coronary artery disease.
  • ED assessment, using the SHIM score, could be a valuable non-invasive tool to stratify cardiovascular risk in men with suspected CAD.
Abstract

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