Erectile failure may be harbinger of heart disease in some men. Similarly, a review of numerous studies on the relationship between erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disorders conducted by Chinese scientists.
The study also concluded that a change of heart-healthy lifestyle or a cholesterol-lowering drugs is thought to have a positive impact on male sexual health. Scientists have long known the relationship between impotence or erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular health.
Although so far there is no evidence, the general theory states arteries that supply blood to the penis during erection may clog arteries faster than in the larger heart. It became an early warning about possible heart artery disease later in life men.
To discuss the relationship between the two, Jia-Yi Dong from Soochow University in Suzhou, China, and colleagues combines 12 previous studies concerning impotence and heart disease. All of these studies included nearly 37,000 men.
"Meta-analysis showed erectile dysfunction significantly increases the risk of heart disease and blood vessel disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and death. Improvements may not tied to powerful risk factor of heart and blood vessels of conventional," they wrote in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Lifestyle Changes
They found that men who face the problem of erectile dysfunction has a 48 percent risk that they will have heart attacks. They also face a higher mortality than men who did not have sexual problems.
Traditional risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, did not explain the relationship. Thus, it reinforces the notion that impotence, when not caused by problems with a spouse or other psychological problems, is a risk factor for heart disease itself.
But one other study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that lifestyle changes and cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins, appear to increase the problem of erectile dysfunction in men. ''But, the effect is just a little,''Reuters reported.
Men who exercise more or eat the Mediterranean diet, rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and olive oil, for example, reported an increase in 2.4 points on 25-point scale of the problem of erectile dysfunction.
Men who use statins''face increased 3.1 points,''said Bhanu Gupta and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Results are based on six trials with 740 participants. "Our results reinforce the growing evidence that lifestyle changes and pharmaceutical therapies for heart disease risk factors and blood vessels are effective in improving sexual function in men with erectile dysfunction," they wrote.
They added lifestyle changes seem to be useful no matter whether he used Viagra, the most common drug to treat impotence, or not.