Increased risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, all-cause mortality
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Erectile dysfunction (ED) significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality, according to a meta-analysis published in the Sept. 20 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Jia-Yi Dong, from the Soochow University in Suzhou, China, and colleagues reviewed the available literature to identify studies that investigated the association between ED and the risk of CVD and all-cause mortality. A total of 12 studies prospective cohort studies, including 36,744 participants, met the inclusion criteria. Two authors extracted data on the study designs, characteristics of study participants, exposure and outcome assessments, and control for potential confounding factors. Overall combined risk estimates were obtained using either fixed- or random-effects models.
The investigators found that men with ED had overall combined relative risks of 1.48, 1.46, 1.35, and 1.19 for CVD, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality, respectively, compared with the control group. Similar results were found when sensitivity analysis was restricted to studies with control for conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Publication bias was not evident.
"This meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies suggests that ED significantly increases the risk of CVD, coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality, and the increase is probably independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors," the authors write.
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