Migraine Is Associated With High Risk of Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Cumulative Analysis

Migraine, a common chronic primary headache, has been found to be associated with a high risk of erectile dysfunction (ED).

The present study aims to summarize all the evidence related to this topic and demonstrate a quantified result on the association between migraine and ED, which has not been reported in the literature.

MEDLINE, Excerpta Medica Database, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched for identifying the eligible studies (2000-2021). This study was registered in the PROSPERO (ID: CRD42021248013).

The combined effects were synthesized with the relative risks (RR) or standard mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

6 trials with a total of 51,657 participants were included, of which 6,175 were men with migraine. The pooled analysis indicated that migraine was associated with a significantly higher risk of ED as compared to the non-migraine general population (RR = 1.63, 95%CI: 1.34 to 2.0, P < .001). Consistently, men with migraine have a significantly lower IIEF-5 score than healthy controls (SMD = -3.64, 95%CI: -6.4 to -0.89, P = .01). Stratification analysis on the mean age indicated that the association between migraine and ED was much stronger in the migraine patients with age < 40 years (RR = 32.29, 95% CI: 6.41-162.64, P < .001; I² = 0.0 %, P = .837) than in those with age > 40 years (RR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.11-2.78, P = .017; I² = 89.2%, P = .002). Sensitivity analysis indicated that no single study had dominated the combined RR and the heterogeneity.

ED is a common disease among migraine men, especially those patients whose age is under 40 years old. It shows a 32-fold increased risk of ED compared to the healthy controls. Migraine-induced ED may be correlated with multiple factors, that is, chronic illnesses, chronic pain, and psychosocial causes (like anxiety and depression). Since phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (ie, sildenafil) might induce or exacerbate migraine, thus it is not recommended to prescribe these drugs for patients with migraine-mediated ED.

The present study provides evidence that migraine is associated with a significantly high risk of ED, especially in those aged < 40 years. The pathophysiological mechanisms of this action deserve further study. He W, Yang Y, Liang H, et al. Migraine Is Associated With High Risk of Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review and Cumulative Analysis. J Sex Med 2022;19:430-440.