Diabetes and erectile dysfunction Original paper

Men with diabetes had a higher prevalence of erectile dysfunction than those without diabetes. Specifically, men with severe insulin-resistant diabetes had the highest prevalence of erectile dysfunction as compared to those with other forms of diabetes.

This Study Summary was published on January 31, 2022.

Background

Diabetes is classified into two main forms based on the presence (type 1) or absence (type 2) of autoantibodies against pancreatic cells and age at diagnosis. However, more recent research[1] has stratified diabetes into five subtypes based on clinical features:

  • Severe autoimmune diabetes (SAID), characterized by early-onset disease, low BMI, poor metabolic control, insulin deficiency, and the presence of glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA)
  • Severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIDD), similar to SAID except without GADA
  • Severe insulin-resistant diabetes (SIRD), characterized by insulin resistance and high BMI
  • Mild obesity-related diabetes (MOD), characterized by obesity without insulin resistance and only mild metabolic derangements
  • Mild age-related diabetes (MARD), characterized by older age, but otherwise similar to MOD.

Although men with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction (ED), whether ED risk differs across these subgroups is unclear.

The study

This cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence of ED in 351 men with recent-onset diabetes and 124 men without diabetes, based on the subgroups mentioned above. The authors assessed the prevalence of ED using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire and collected blood samples to assess glycemic indices.

The results

Overall, men with diabetes had a higher prevalence of ED (23%) than those without diabetes (11%).

The prevalence of ED among diabetes subgroups was highest in SIRD (52%), followed by SIDD (31%), MARD (29%), MOD (18%), and SAID (7%).

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This Study Summary was published on January 31, 2022.

References

  1. ^Emma Ahlqvist, Petter Storm, Annemari Käräjämäki, Mats Martinell, Mozhgan Dorkhan, Annelie Carlsson, Petter Vikman, Rashmi B Prasad, Dina Mansour Aly, Peter Almgren, Ylva Wessman, Nael Shaat, Peter Spégel, Hindrik Mulder, Eero Lindholm, Olle Melander, Ola Hansson, Ulf Malmqvist, Åke Lernmark, Kaj Lahti, Tom Forsén, Tiinamaija Tuomi, Anders H Rosengren, Leif GroopNovel subgroups of adult-onset diabetes and their association with outcomes: a data-driven cluster analysis of six variablesLancet Diabetes Endocrinol.(2018 May)