Smoking ups impotence risk in younger men

	Tweet

Adding to evidence that smoking is bad for a man’s sex life, new study findings show that smoking may raise the risk of impotence, particularly in younger men.

Researchers found that among the more than 1,300 men they followed, those who smoked were at greater risk of Erectile dysfunction (ED) than either former smokers or non-smokers.

Smokers in their 40s, the youngest group in the study, showed the highest smoking-related risk. Compared with other men their age, they were nearly three times more likely to have erectile dysfunction.

Smoking was also linked, to a lesser extent, to impotence among men in their 50s and 60s, but not among those in their 70s.

This age difference is not surprising, according to Drs. Naomi M. Gades and Steven J. Jacobsen of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, two of the authors of the study.

Older men often have a number of risk factors for impotence, including diabetes, heart disease and High Blood Pressure. In younger men, Gades and Jacobsen told AMN Health, the association between smoking and impotence is less likely to be “masked” by these other medical conditions.

“Smoking may have a more apparent impact on erectile dysfunction in young male smokers than it does in older male smokers,” the researchers report in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

A number of past studies have pointed to the impotence risk associated with smoking. Though the reasons aren’t fully clear, it’s thought that the effects of smoking on the blood vessels may impair blood flow to the penis, leading to problems with maintaining an erection.

It’s known that conditions in which blood circulation is impaired—such as High Blood Pressure and heart disease—raise the risk of erectile dysfunction. Increasingly, Gades and Jacobsen noted, men diagnosed with ED are being referred for cardiovascular work-ups, since the condition could be a sign of underlying artery disease.

The new findings, according to the researchers, support the idea that smoking is a direct cause of ED because the study found a “dose-response” relationship between the condition and men’s smoking habits. This means that the more men smoked over their lives, the greater their risk of impotence was.

Some public health campaigns, the study authors note, have emphasized the fact that smoking may be a risk factor for ED. The rationale has been that while younger men may not be swayed by the far-off prospect of lung cancer, emphysema or heart disease, the risk smoking presents to their sex lives may grab their attention.

These messages, the researchers write, “may be well founded.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, Feb. 15, 2005.

-----------------------------------------------
VIAGRA © is the top selling prescription medication for Erectile Dysfunction (also known as impotence). Over 16 million men have used Viagra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Order Viagra online !
-----------------------------------------------

RELATED STORIES:
Ugandan virgins rally to promote abstinence   Study links TV to teen sexual activity   Risky sex more likely for young men with positive body images   South African government launches colorful condoms   Some gay men may be misusing Viagra   Drug May Offer Aphrodisiac for Women   Condom errors increase gonorrhea risk among men   Erectile dysfunction   Premature ejaculation? Two minutes or less - study   Parents’ disapproval of sex may cut kids’ STD risk   PSA Campaign About Risky Sexual Behavior a Success   Teens think oral sex is not sex

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]