Hypogonadism in men with erectile dysfunction may be related to a host of chronic illnesses

The prevalence of hypogonadism has been found to be increased in certain chronic illnesses, especially diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Recently, the prevalence of hypogonadism in primary care practices mirrored that in our population of men with erectile dysfunction (ED). In this study, the prevalence of hypogonadism in nearly 1000 men with ED was tabulated, using a retrospective chart review, and analyzed for association with the various contributing medical and psychological factors. The prevalence of hypogonadism was determined in men with a variety of chronic illnesses, and was further characterized by decade. We observed an association between hypertension (P=0.025), tobacco abuse (P=0.0059), sleep apnea (P=0.0001), work stress (P=0.041) and hypogonadism. These data were further analyzed for the odds ratio and confidence interval (Forest plot), which showed strong association for sleep apnea and work stress. We did not observe any significant association between diabetes, atherosclerosis, alcohol abuse, multiple medications, asthma, seizure disorder, anxiety/depression and hypogonadism (P values for Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel general association were 0.48, 0.97, 0.25, 0.69, 0.22, 0.76 and 0.98, respectively). We suggest that a host of chronic illnesses have a high prevalence of secondary hypogonadism. Men who have chronic medical or psychological illnesses should have their testosterone level checked, especially when sexual dysfunction symptoms or signs are present.