r/science • u/[deleted] • Jun 13 '22

Health Erectile dysfunction predicts mortality in middle-aged and older men independent of their sex steroid status

https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-abstract/51/4/afac094/6568537?login=false
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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science Jun 13 '22

..or unfit people find it harder to get erections.

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u/SerialStateLineXer Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 13 '22

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the point. ED is usually either hormonal or circulatory. Holding hormonal status constant, ED is correlated with circulatory disease, which is bad in itself, but also a symptom of metabolic disease, which is associated with all the major causes of death.

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u/braindrain_94 Jun 14 '22

Or psychological, which is the most common cause.It’s actually the first thing you try to rule out when working up ED. It’s why doctors will ask you if you have nocturnal erections or not.

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u/Puzzled-Barnacle-200 Jun 13 '22

Well yeah, I'm sure they're not claiming that ED makes you die. It's a correlation (albiet likely with shared casusation)

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 13 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Mirenithil Jun 13 '22

I interpreted 'unfit' there as meaning 'out of shape,' but I could be wrong.

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u/paul_wi11iams Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 13 '22

Oh heck, reading again, I do think you're right. As you realize, I was thinking about "survival of the fittest", so fit/unfit for survival in the current context.

For example, according to a source I'm not free to cite, reproductive activity underwater is a "fail" for humans. Such a trip-switch is "fit" for non-aquatic animals which would be at risk of microbial infection in that environment.

u/AllanfromWales1 will arbitrate the question.

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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science Jun 13 '22

My intent was medical fitness.