2023-09-15 08:36:37
If the diagnosis of erectile dysfunction could improve the detection of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, routine tests should be implemented to detect hyperglycemia when men present said disorder.
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also known as male sexual impotence, is the persistent inability to achieve or maintain an erection that allows satisfactory sexual intercourse. It must be differentiated from other sexual problems, such as lack of desire, ejaculation disorders (premature ejaculation, delayed ejaculation and absence of ejaculation) or orgasm disorders. Erectile dysfunction is not a disease, but a symptom.
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common consequence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and the risk of developing it steadily increases the longer patients spend with this type of diabetes. Therefore, the association between ED and T2DM appears to be bidirectional and could be an indicator of an undiagnosed metabolic disease. This is what researchers from the University of San Luis (USA) believe, who have carried out a study, published in ‘Preventive Medicine’, according to which erectile dysfunction indicates undiagnosed prediabetes and/or type 2 diabetes in young men under the age of 40 years.
The researchers designed the study to determine the risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes among young men with and without new ED diagnoses and the time between a new ED diagnosis and the onset of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). To do this, the electronic health data of 1,915,468 patients between 2008 and 2022 were reviewed.
Risk of prediabetes
In a large cohort of young adult men, those with a new diagnosis of ED had a 2.5 times higher risk of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes compared to patients without ED. Those with erectile dysfunction had a 38% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. About 1 in 3 cases of prediabetes/T2D occurred on the same date as the ED diagnosis and 75% were diagnosed within a year of the presentation of a new DE. Overall, this indicates that ED is a marker of undiagnosed prediabetes/T2DM and a risk factor for the short-term onset of prediabetes/T2D.
“This indicates a remarkable ability to predict the possible onset of a disease and treat it early with lifestyle or medication,” said Jane Tucker, associate professor of family and community medicine at the aforementioned University.
If the diagnosis of erectile dysfunction could improve the detection of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, routine tests should be implemented to detect hyperglycemia when men present ED, as concluded by the study, which also recalls that after Urology, Family Medicine is the next most common setting where patients with erectile dysfunction are diagnosed. Ana Mera (pharmacist. Barcelona)
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