Metabolic syndrome linked to erectile dysfunction - (04/07/06)
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The male erectile tissues contain vast amounts of specialized endothelial-cells, and there is growing interest in assessing the relationship between dyserection, endothelial dysfunction (ED) and the metabolic syndrome. Analysis of an International Index for Erectile Function questionnaire from 268 patients (with normal or abnormal fasting glucose) revealed that 74% of those with the metabolic syndrome (n = 89) vs 50% of those without had ED. Erectile function domain scores significantly decreased as the number of metabolic risk factors increased, with fasting blood glucose and waist circumference (WC) being the most important criteria for ED. Therefore, patients with the metabolic syndrome should be questioned about ED, and WC be measured in the routine evaluation of male ED with or without diabetes.
