Erectile dysfunction causes stress and negatively affects the self-confidence of men. It was also previously linked to cardiovascular diseases. However, as it turns out, it also impacts mortality risk.
According to the study published at the Journal of Sex Medicine, men suffering from erectile dysfunction are 70 percent likely to die early as compared to those who did not experience the problem.
In order to reach this conclusion, the researchers from University of Mississippi evaluated the data of 1,790 men who were aged 20 to 85 years old. The said participants participated in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
The prevalence of erectile dysfunction was assessed through asking the question: "How would you describe your ability to get and keep an erection adequate for satisfactory intercourse?"
Participants who answered "sometimes able" and "never able" were determined to suffer from the disorder. Thus, from the participants, 557 were found to have the problem.
Furthermore, in order to assess the mortality rate, the researchers linked the data from NHANES to the death certificates from the National Death Index until Dec. 21, 2011.
According to the report at Mail Online, after eight years of follow up, 244 from the original group had died with 61 dying from cardiovascular diseases and 64 from malignant neoplasms. Moreover, 12 others died due to chronic lower respiratory disease while others suffered from various causes.
The Mail Online report also highlighted that the researchers adjusted the results to take into consideration factors such as "age, physical activity, race-ethnicity" as well as "waist circumference, poverty-to-income ratio, cotinine and comorbid illness."
"ED is associated with increased premature mortality risk. The present findings have major public health and clinical implications in that ED is a strong indicator of premature mortality. Therefore, patients with ED should be screened and possibly treated for complications that may increase the risk of premature death," the researchers concluded in the study.
Although the researchers admitted that the study is limited in terms of relying to self-reported assessment of the participants, they believe that the study has its strengths specifically with the use of a national sample.
The researchers, however, pointed out that further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of erectile dysfunction.
As cited by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, erectile dysfunction affects as many as 30 million men in the United States. According to the report, erectile dysfunction occurs in about 12 percent of men below 60 years old, 22 percent of men aged 60 to 69 and 30 percent of men aged 70 or older.