HisandHerHealth: Information About Sexuality, Prostate, Incontinence

In the study, 300 patients with sudden severe chest pain (mean age: 61 years; range: 37-83) were admitted to the heart intensive care unit and underwent a morphological and functional evaluation of the coronary arteries through a coronary angiography. The patients then completed a detailed general and sexual history questionnaire, as well as the Beck's inventory for depression and the AUA Symptom Score, among others.

The study showed a high prevalence of erectile dysfunction in ischemic heart disease patients. In addition, a significant rate of patients developed erectile dysfunction at a mean of 53.4 months prior to developing ischemic heart disease.

"The preliminary data in this report still need confirmation in a larger patient population, but the study does raise the issue of erectile dysfunction as a predictive factor for ischemic heart disease in some patients," said Montorsi. "Reasons may be related to the fact that in the vast majorities of cases, erectile dysfunction develops due to abnormalities of blood circulation: as penile blood vessels are very small and more prone to become abnormal when vascular risk factors like aging, smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol are present, impaired erections may show up much earlier than symptoms of poor circulation coming from other parts of the body such as the heart."