Erectile Dysfunction Predicts Heart Attacks

Impotent men may have even more serious concerns outside of the bedroom.

A study by German researchers says erectile dysfunction in men with heart disease is a strong predictor of death from heart attacks and stroke. In fact, these men were twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease or have a heart attack in a study. The report is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Erectile dysfunction is something that regularly should be addressed in the medical history of patients," says Michael Böhm, the study's lead author and chairman of internal medicine in the Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care at the University of Saarland, Germany.

The five-year study of more than 1,500 men from 13 countries categorized the patients as having mild, moderate or severe erectile dysfunction. About 11 percent of the men with erectile dysfunction in the study died from various causes.

But the percentage of deaths (5.6 percent) was lower for men with no dysfunction or only a mild case. Cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure occurred in more than 16 percent of erectile dysfunction patients, compared with about 10 percent of the others, researchers say.

While the term has become widely recognized, erectile dysfunction wasn't a condition discussed or referenced as frequently prior to Pfizer Inc.'s introduction of Viagra in 1998. Today there are multiple competitors, including Eli Lilly & Co.'s Cialis and Bayer AG's Levitra, which has put a significant spotlight the issue.

Indeed, because the treatment options are effective men get Viagra or another drug and assume the problem is fixed, Böhm says. But, he adds, family doctors or urologists should refer men with erectile dysfunction to a heart doctor.

"The medication works and the patient doesn't show up anymore," Böhm said. "These men are being treated for the ED but not the underlying cardiovascular disease. A whole segment of men is being placed at risk."