Viagra use expands among younger men

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The little blue pill isn’t just for seniors any more.
According to a new study published today, the fastest-growing segment of users of erectile-dysfunction drugs such as Viagra is between the ages of 18 and 45.

“It is a slow shift, but it is shifting from an older population to a younger population,” said Thomas Delate, a University of Colorado graduate who conducted the study for Express Scripts Inc., a Missouri-based company that does research on drug trends for insurance companies.

The study, published in the International Journal of Impotence Research, a sister publication to Nature magazine, examined Viagra use among more than 5 million commercially insured adults between 1998 — the year Viagra hit the market — and 2002.

During that time, use soared 312 percent among men 18 to 45 and 216 percent among men 46 to 55. Overall use by insured men increased 84 percent in the four years.

Delate, a health services researcher who now works for Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, credits the shift to an aggressive direct-to-consumer marketing campaign targeting younger men. Last year, Pfizer Inc. enlisted 37-year-old Texas Ranger slugger Rafael Palmeiro as a Viagra spokesperson. Viagra is also a major sponsor of NASCAR and recently sponsored an Earth Wind and Fire concert tour.

While the vast majority of Viagra users are still 56 and older, roughly one-third are now between the ages of 18 and 55, Delate said. And according to the study, the number of men taking Viagra because of underlying medical reasons, such as diabetes, decreased from 45 percent to 40 percent.

“It appears that it is being used more for recreational use and enhancement and less for medical necessity,” Delate said.

He said he thinks that as more erectile dysfunction drugs come on the market — Cialis and Levitra hit the market last fall — those companies also will set their sights on younger men hoping to heighten their performance. And insurance companies should strongly consider whether to cover them, he said.

“They don’t cover cosmetic surgery. They don’t cover Botox. But at the same time, they are covering Viagra for people who don’t necessarily have a medical need for it,” Delate said, noting that roughly 25 percent cover Viagra with no questions asked, and two-thirds cover it with quantity limitations.

Dr. Mark Laitos, a Longmont family-practice physician, said he has written prescriptions for medicines like Viagra for several patients under the age of 45. He knows of no studies showing that there are health problems associated with taking it at a younger age, or for long periods of time.

Whether it is covered or not is up to the insurance companies, he said. But if a patient has difficulty getting erections and Laitos determines that medication might help, he won’t hesitate to write a prescription, he said.

“We aren’t saving anybody’s life when we give them Viagra. However, we are allowing them to enjoy a part of life that other people enjoy,” he said.

As of May 2004, more than 15.5 million men have tried Viagra in the United States, according to Pfizer, Inc. Since it was introduced in 1998, more than 170 million prescriptions have been written for it.

Company spokesman Daniel Watts said he thinks there are “limitations” to the study published today that may exaggerate the shift to a younger group of consumers. He said that according to Pfizer’s prescription data, men between the age of 40 and 69 account for about 84 percent of Viagra prescriptions.

However, he said, the company has shifted its advertising strategy since the days when Bob Dole stared out at TV viewers urging them to ask their doctors about erectile dysfunction.

“The fact is, a lot of men younger than him get ED and we wanted to target them as well,” Watts said.

Dr. Lisa Brone, a family-practice doctor at CU’s Wardenburg Health Center said she occasionally gives a college-age man a prescription for an erectile dysfunction drug, but only after determining that other factors are not at play.

“We know that smoking and binge alcohol-use can contribute to erectile dysfunction, so we try to address those kinds of things first,” she said.

She said she is troubled that such drugs are so easily available over the Internet, because they can be hazardous to people with certain medical conditions. But overall, she said, she thinks the increased attention to erectile dysfunction among younger people is a positive thing.

“It seems like since Viagra came out, men are a little bit more willing to go in their doctor’s office and talk about it,” she said. “We are just now starting to realize how widespread the problem is.”

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