Is obesity correlated with sexual function in young men?

The study investigated the correlation between obesity and sexual function in young men. It was a cross-sectional study in an unselected consecutive sample of military men aged less than 28 years old attending to the Navy Recruit Training Center. There were 772 subjects included in the study, excluding subjects with comorbidities and subjects who had not engaged in sexual intercourse. All men underwent a detailed health examination, including physical assessment and taking of medical history. Obesity was assessed by anthropometric means, including body mass index, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio. Subjects were categorized into 4 groups by increasing order according to each anthropometric indicator (quartile method). Clinical sexual function was evaluated with the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) scale score. There was no statistical difference in IIEF-5 score between smoking and nonsmoking groups (t test, P = .422). According to analysis of variance, only the anthropometric indicator WC showed a statistically significant correlation with IIEF-5 severity (P = .032). A possible explanation was that the systemic effects of obesity and smoking would take place while combined with the process of aging.