Epidemiology of Erectile Dysfunction and Key Risk Factors Part 1
Erectile dysfunction is a significant and common medical problem. Epidemiologic surveys in the past 20 years suggest that approximately 30–40% of men over 40 have ED to one degree or another. Data from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS) have shown that ED is a common occurrence among aging men with a prevalence rate of 34.8% of moderate to complete ED. The disorder is highly age-dependent, as the prevalence rises from 2% for men aged 40–49, 6% for men aged 50–59, 17% for men aged 60–69, and 39% for men aged 70 and older. Recent reports from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and the Males Attitude Regarding Sexual Health Survey (MARSH) show similar prevalence estimates. NHANES data suggests that Hispanics are more likely to report ED especially at younger ages (<50 years), a pattern not observed in the MARSH study.
Erectile dysfunction is a significant and common medical problem. Epidemiologic surveys in the past 20 years suggest that approximately 30-40% of men over 40 have ED to one degree or another. Data from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS) have shown that ED is a common occurrence among aging men with a prevalence rate of 34.8% of moderate to complete ED. The disorder is highly age-dependent, as the prevalence rises from 2% for men aged 40–49, 6% for men aged 50–59, 17% for men aged 60–69, and 39% for men aged 70 and older. Recent reports from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and the Males Attitude Regarding Sexual Health Survey (MARSH) show similar prevalence estimates. NHANES data suggests that Hispanics are more likely to report ED especially at younger ages (<50 years), a pattern not observed in the MARSH study. The role of aging in ED has been investigated in several studies. In a large national sample of men (N = 1,455) between the ages of 57 and 85 years of age, 37% of men in the overall sample had problems with ED, increasing to 44% in the 75–85 year age group.
Men were asked whether or not they had “difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection for several months or more during the past year.” Of note, 90% of men with ED reported being bothered by the problem. Fourteen percent of men in the sample reported the use of medications to improve sexual function. As in previous studies, age and diabetes were significant independent risk factors for ED in this study, in addition to overall health and well-being. Previously, Laumann et al. had shown that ED increases from 7% in men under 30 to 18% in men aged 50–59. Taken together with the recent findings from the Lindau et al. study, it appears that ED increases about 400-fold from less than 10% of men under age 30, to almost 50% of men aged 50 and above. However, we should note that almost 50% of men aged 50 and above do not develop ED, and thus it should not be viewed as a natural or inevitable consequence of aging.
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