Abstract
The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in aboriginal male Taiwanese is very high. Many studies have found that those with cardiovascular disease and MS have a significantly higher risk of ED. In this study, we attempted to find the correlation among MS risk factor, atherosclerosis risk factors and low serum testosterone in relation to the development of ED. This was a cross-sectional study of 238 cases, and collected data included demographic data, lifestyle questionnaires, sexual desire scale, sexual satisfaction scale and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire. Among our 238 subjects, 146 had MS (61.3%) and 114 subjects with MS had ED (85.7%). Using age-adjusted multivariate logistic regressive analysis, this study showed that aboriginal males with ED had a significantly higher prevalence of MS (OR=12.02, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 6.33–22.83, P<0.001). Among the MS components, abnormal fasting blood sugar was the most significantly independent factor for ED in aboriginal males (OR=8.94, 95% CI: 4.71–16.97, P<0.001). The presence of MS had a significant correlation with lower IIEF-5 scores, lower sexual desire scores, lower testosterone serum level (P<0.01) and abnormal interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP). The results of this study support the idea that MS, low serum testosterone and HsCRP may predict ED in aboriginal Taiwanese males. Further studies with population-based and longitudinal design should be conducted to confirm this finding and design to compare rates of ED in aboriginal men with MS.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the Yuli Veterans Hospital, Taiwan (VHYL-99-02). We also wish to thank the psychiatric staff for their help in this study.
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Chao, JK., Kuo, WH., Chiang, HS. et al. Association of metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis risk factors, sex hormones in ED in aboriginal Taiwanese. Int J Impot Res 24, 141–146 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2012.5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2012.5
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