Erectile Dysfunction Is Associated With Excessive Growth Hormone Levels in Male Patients With Acromegaly

To determine the risk factors for erectile dysfunction (ED) in male patients with acromegaly and to prospectively investigate the short-term changes of erectile function after surgery or medical treatment.

Sixty-three male patients were subjected to nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity (NPTR) test for the evaluation of erectile function. The measurement of serum nitric oxide (NO) was also performed. Twenty-seven patients were re-evaluated by NPTR after surgery or long-term somatostatin analogues (SSA) treatment.

Twenty-two patients (34.9%) had ED. Patients with ED showed higher random GH (17.89 [10.97-44.19] μg/L vs 11.63 [4.31-28.80] μg/L, p = 0.020) and GH nadir (GHn) (10.80 [6.69-38.30] μg/L vs 8.76 [3.62-18.19] μg/L, p = 0.044) during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The NO levels of ED patients were lower than non-ED patients (9.15 [5.58-22.48] μmol/L vs 16.50 [12.33-31.78] μmol/L, p = 0.012). After treatment, patients who present improvement in erectile function showed lower post-GHn (0.07 [0.03-0.12] ng/ml vs 1.32 [0.09-3.60] ng/ml, p = 0.048) and post-IGF-1 index (1.03 ± 0.38 vs 1.66 ± 0.95, p = 0.049). The multivariate analysis indicated post-GHn was still associated with the improvement of erectile function after correction of other covariates (OR: 0.059, 95% CI: 0.003-1.043, p = 0.053).

Excessive GH is related to ED in male patients with acromegaly. GH normalization after treatment is beneficial for short-term erectile function recovery.