Effect of systemic arterial pressure on erectile dysfunction in the initial stages of chronic arterial insufficiency

To report the effect of systemic arterial pressure on erectile dysfunction (ED) in patients in the initial stages of peripheral arterial disease.

All patients with a diagnosis of ED in the urology outpatient clinic of the Medicine School in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil were evaluated in a cross-sectional, quantitative study. The patients were assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function, the ankle-brachial index, and measurement of arterial blood pressure. Binary logistic regression, log-likelihood, Pearson chi-square and likelihood ratio chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis Test were used for statistical analysis with P < 0.05 being considered acceptable. Fifty-two patients (mean age 56.63 years) were enrolled in the study.

Differences were detected between the median grades of ED of patients with differing degrees of chronic arterial insufficiency. Hypertensive patients in the initial stages of peripheral arterial disease had less severe grades of ED than normotensive patients.

The progression of ED parallels the development of chronic arterial insufficiency. Systemic arterial hypertension in the initial stages of peripheral arterial disease might protect against ED, but peripheral arterial disease constitutes an aggravating factor for ED, and thus hypertension might exert a paradoxical effect in this stage of the disease.