[Clinical characteristics of patients with erectile dysfunction-no sexual life]

To collect clinical data of patients with erectile dysfunction-no sexual life (ED-NS), and investigate its characteristics with a simple evaluating questionnaire.

Sixty-one patients who complained erectile dysfunction without sexual life for more than six months and 57 normal controls were enrolled in our study. The mean age of the ED-NS patients was 26.2 ± 4.3 years, compared with 24.9 ± 4.1 years of normal controls, without significant difference (P>0.05). The erectile function was assessed with a simple questionnaire including 16 questions, such as sexual libido, general erectile function, nocturnal penile erection, erectile function during foreplay without sexual life, erectile function during audio-video sexual stimulation, confidence, depressions, etc. The patients filled "yes" or "no" in the blank of the questionnaire according to their erectile function. The frequency distributions of each question between the two groups were analyzed with chi-square test of four-fold table.

Compared with normal control group, the frequency distributions of 13 questions in ED-NS group were significantly different, such as sexual libido (χ²=35.891, P<0.05), confidence of erection (χ²=75.608, P<0.05), general erectile function(χ²=54.433, P<0.05), nocturnal penile erection(χ²=29.815, P<0.05), erectile function during foreplay without sexual life(χ²=21.211, P<0.05), confidence of erection during foreplay without sexual life(χ²=70.445, P<0.05), erectile function during audio-video sexual stimulation(χ²=34.422, P<0.05), etc. But in both groups, some patients didn't have masturbation so that they couldn't answer the masturbation questions.

We have created a new conception about the patients without sexual life, erectile dysfunction-no sexual life, which defines it as the inability to have enough erection hardness and duration so as to have enough confidence in attempting sexual intercourse for more than six months. We will establish a special index of the ED-NS questionnaire to assess erectile function of ED-NS. Further study is needed.