Research links ED and diabetes with later heart conditions

WASHINGTON According to new findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, men with type 2 diabetes who have problems maintaining an erection may foretell heart trouble, as reported by Reuters.

In one study, Italian researchers found that among 291 men with type 2 diabetes, those who also had erectile dysfuncion had twice the risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular complication over the next four years.

At the start of the study, all of the men had had evidence of “silent” heart disease—meaning they had plaque buildup in their arteries on imaging tests, but no heart disease symptoms, such as chest pain. Having ED seemed to pinpoint those men who were at particular risk of a complication. There was some good news though: Taking cholesterol-lowering statins appeared to reduce the risks associated with ED by one-third, according to the researchers.

In the second study, Hong Kong researchers found that among diabetic men with no indications of heart disease at the outset, those with ED were 58 percent more likely to die of heart disease, or have a heart attack or other non-fatal cardiac “event.”

“Erectile dysfunction is an important warning sign of future adverse heart events or even death,” study chief Peter Chun-Yip Tong, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Reuters Health. The main reason, he explained, is that ED is an early manifestation of the blood vessel damage caused by diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure.

Tong recommended that all men with diabetes tell their doctors if they begin to have problems getting or maintaining an erection. They can then have a comprehensive assessment of their cardiovascular risk factors, such as measurements of their blood pressure, cholesterol, waist size and kidney function, and work on getting those under control.