Prevalence of Asymptomatic Coronary Artery Stenosis Based on Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography in Adults with...

To investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic coronary artery stenosis (CAS) using coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in Korean men with erectile dysfunction (ED).

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 108 men who underwent CCTA at a health promotion center in Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital. Each subject who was evaluated for ED using the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction (IIEF) questionnaire did not have a past history or symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD). We assessed the association between ED and CCTA-based CAS.

The overall prevalence of ED was 57.4%; furthermore, age (p = 0.001) and fasting blood glucose (p =0.035) were the metabolic risk factors that were most significantly associated with the presence of ED. The overall frequency of CAS was 31.5%, and ED (p = 0.022), age (p < 0.001), fasting blood glucose (p = 0.021), and total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p = 0.029) were significantly associated with the presence of CAS. The prevalence of CAS was 40.3 and 19.6% in the ED and non-ED groups, respectively. Men with ED were 2.778 times more likely to present with CAS than those without ED (OR 2.778, 95% CI 1.143-6.749, p = 0.024); however multivariate logistic regression analysis, while controlling for age, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose, suggested the absence of a significant association between ED and CCTA-based CAS.

This study shows that CCTA-based CAS is a common phenomenon in men who have ED. Furthermore, ED patients without cardiac symptoms need to be investigated for the possibility of hidden CAD.