http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/condi...unction.reut/i
ndex.html
Erectile dysfunction affects 18 percent of U.S. men
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- There's more bad news for those pudgy couch
potatoes, junk food junkies and TV devotees -- and this time it really hits
them where it hurts.
A study published Thursday found that about 18 percent of U.S. men age 20
and up suffer from erectile dysfunction -- and the condition is strongly
linked to a sedentary lifestyle of little physical exercise, poor diet and
lots of television.
Not surprisingly, the condition was most common in older men. But there was
a strikingly high prevalence in men with diabetes and high blood pressure.
"This really means that staying active -- moving more and eating less --
and staying healthy, in addition to being good for your cardiovascular
health may also be good for your sexual health," said epidemiologist
Elizabeth Selvin of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who
led the study, in an interview.
"It's just another reason to get off the couch and exercise," Selvin added.
The study in the American Journal of Medicine sought to get a sense of the
prevalence of erectile dysfunction, formerly called impotence, in what
Selvin called "the post-Viagra era."
The U.S. government approved Pfizer Inc.'s
Viagra in 1998 as the first pill
for erectile dysfunction -- the inability to attain an adequate penile
erection for satisfactory sexual activity.
The arrival of Viagra not only provided a treatment option, but boosted
awareness of the formerly taboo subject and made it more acceptable to
discuss.
The study estimated that 18.4 percent of U.S. men age 20 and older -- about
18 million -- have the condition. Among those ages 20-39, 5.1 percent had
it; ages 40-59, 14.8 percent; ages 60-69, 43.8 percent; and age 70 and
older 70.2 percent.
Half of the men in the study who had diabetes also had erectile
dysfunction. Nearly 90 percent of men with erectile dysfunction had risk
factors for cardiovascular disease, including diabetes, high blood
pressure, poor cholesterol levels or smoking, the study found.
TV watching
Men who watched three or more hours of TV per day were much more likely to
have erectile dysfunction than men who watched less than an hour per day.
And men with erectile dysfunction were less likely to have done vigorous
physical activity in the previous 30 days than other men.
Selvin said there are two clear messages from the findings. One is that
lifestyle changes -- losing weight, exercising more and eating healthier
foods -- may be very effective in warding off erectile dysfunction rather
than merely relying on a pill.
"By making lifestyle changes now, you can prevent this decline in sexual
function," Selvin said.
The other message, she said, is for doctors to be more aggressive in
screening and managing their middle-aged and older patients for this common
quality-of-life issue.
Selvin and colleagues Arthur Burnett and Elizabeth Platz based their
findings on data from 2,126 men who took part in a broad national health
and nutrition survey whose participants were representative of the general
U.S. population.
Men who said they were "never able" or "sometimes able" to maintain an
erection were listed as having erectile dysfunction. Those who said they
were "always or almost always able" or "usually able" were not.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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Erectile dysfunction affects 18 percent of U.S. men 
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