One in Five Men Have Erectile Dysfunction, Survey Finds

Diabetes, Obesity, High Blood Pressure Linked to Higher Risk

The prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) increases as men age, rising rapidly after age 50 with about 18.4 percent of all men reporting being “sometimes” or “never” able to get and keep an erection, according to new research sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

The findings, the result of work led by Christopher Saigal, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of California, Los Angeles’ David Geffen School of Medicine, showed that about 6.5 percent of men between the ages of 20 and 29 reported ED. That number rose to 77.5 percent of men aged 75 years and older.

“The burden of ED on the U.S. population is significant,” wrote the study authors in the January 23, 2006, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, where they called for physicians to modify behaviors that influence risk factors—including diabetes, obesity, and smoking—linked to ED.

People with Diabetes at Risk
Patients with diabetes are almost three times as likely to report ED as those without the condition. Men with obesity are 1.6 times as likely to acknowledge trouble as non-obese men. Men with high blood pressure have an ED prevalence 1.6 times that of those without high blood pressure. Smoking and heart diseases are also linked to higher ED rates.

The research is part of the Urologic Diseases in America Project, an ongoing effort to quantify the burden of select diseases on the U.S. population. Though past studies have assessed ED prevalence in select groups of men, the new findings offer a broad look at the extent of the problem.

Researchers examined data gathered during the 2001–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, where 2,126 men answered a question regarding their “ability to get and keep an erection adequate for satisfactory intercourse.”

In addition, the researchers found that Hispanic/Latino men had nearly twice the rate of ED as their Caucasian and African American peers, a finding that was driven by especially high ED rates in Hispanic/Latino men younger than 50. The researchers hypothesized that the higher-than-average risk may be driven by more severe health problems or by differences in the way Hispanics/Latinos interpreted the survey question.

NIH Publication No. 06–5743
July 2006