14 DAY TRIAL // For those who think that there's nothing worse than erectile dysfunction, we have bad news. Things can go much worse. For example, you can have a cocktail of conditions: erectile problems combined with cardiac and cerebral issues and diabetes.
According to some latest studies, persons who are suffering from erectile dysfunction are more likely to be diagnosed with other diseases, like cardiovascular conditions and diabetes.
"Asking for a sexual history of a patient and determining to what degree their sexual function is normal is an important part of not only understanding their sexual health, but perhaps on a much broader level, their cardiovascular health, as well,'' said the lead author of one of the studies, Dr. Steven Grover of McGill University.
"I think the most interesting part of our analysis is that even among those individuals who didn't have known cardiac diseases - in other words, nobody had ever told them they had a heart problem - the presence of erectile dysfunction is still strongly associated with their risk of future coronary disease,'' Dr. Steven Grover added.
The Canadian study, carried out between July 20, 2001 and November 13, 2002, consisted in the interviewing of 3,921 men with ages ranging between 40 and 88 years.
Men with cardiovascular disease and diabetes were most likely to have ED. Among men without cardiovascular disease or diabetes, the calculated future risk of developing these conditions was linked to likelihood of having ED.
"These data demonstrate that primary care physicians may find that taking a sexual history provides important clinical information beyond the detection of ED," the authors concluded.
In another study, this time by the Chicago University, researchers found that patients with erectile dysfunction were more likely to have heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. "Erectile dysfunction is a stronger predictor than traditional coronary heart disease risk factors in this population,'' the authors wrote.