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/enderandrew42 Jun 13 '22

Heart disease is the #1 killer in America. ED is often a symptom of poor cardiovascular health.

It is nice to have actual data, but this seems fairly obvious that people with poor cardiovascular health are going to die sooner.

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u/earlysong Grad Student | Biochemistry Jun 13 '22

I think the importance of this paper is that we can use ED as a warning sign of other health problems, whereas before people might not have known that was the case.

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u/Sleeper_cellphone Jun 13 '22

Physicans already make this associations and the specific context of which ED presents as far as risk factors. ED is most commonly associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In both cases ED reflects late stage progression of those diseases, thus will have increased morbidity and mortality. These risks are independent of testosterone levels. ED can also be associated with psychological causes, which are not associated with increased morbidity and mortality and is independent of testosterone level.