WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Men who suffer from erectile dysfunction are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke and death, Chinese researchers suggest.
Although it is well accepted that cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for erectile dysfunction, it has not been clear whether erectile dysfunction is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the researchers noted.
"Erectile dysfunction significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, and the increase was probably independent of conventional risk factors," said lead researcher Dr. Li-Qiang Qin, from the department of nutrition and food hygiene in the School of Public Health at Soochow University in Suzhou.
As such, "erectile dysfunction may not only contribute to cardiovascular risk prediction, but also serve as a potential target for cardiovascular disease prevention," Qin said.
The report was published in the Sept. 13 online edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
For the study, Qin's team culled data on the relationship between erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease from 12 studies published between 2005 and 2011 that included a total of 36,744 people and an average follow-up of 4 to 16.2 years. This process, called a meta-analysis, tries to pool data from several sources to tease out a pattern that might not be obvious in a single study.
The researchers found a significant association between erectile dysfunction and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, heart disease, stroke and death.
In fact, men with erectile dysfunction had a 48 percent increased risk for cardiovascular disease, a 46 percent increased risk for heart disease, a 35 percent increased risk for stroke and a 19 percent increased risk of dying of any cause, compared to men without the condition.
Even after taking risk factors suc
'/>"/>
| Copyright©2010 ScoutNews,LLC. All rights reserved |