Impotence may signal future heart disease

Impotence may serve as an early warning of Heart disease down the road, even in men without traditional risk factors for heart trouble, a new study suggests.

In a study of 143 middle-aged men, Italian researchers found that those with vascular erectile dysfunction (ED) were nearly four times as likely as those without the condition to show high levels of calcification in the heart arteries.

Calcium deposits, along with fat and other substances, are part of the artery-clogging "plaque" that accumulate in atherosclerosis, a "hardening" and narrowing of coronary arteries that can lead to Heart Attack and Stroke.

Computed tomography (CT), a specialized X-ray technique, can detect these calcium deposits, and it is sometimes used to screen for Heart disease before symptoms are apparent.

In the new study, CT scans revealed that arterial calcium deposits were more common and more extensive in men with ED - even though traditional heart risk factors, like High Blood Pressure and High cholesterol, were not.

An erection problem is the inability to get or maintain an erection that is firm enough for a man to have intercourse. You may be unable to get an erection at all, or you may lose the erection during intercourse before you are ready. If the condition persists, the medical term is erectile dysfunction.

Considerations

Erection problems are common in adult men. In fact, almost all men experience occasional difficulty getting or maintaining an erection. In many cases, it is a temporary condition that will go away with little or no treatment. In other cases, it can be an ongoing problem that can damage a man's self esteem and harm his relationship with his partner, and thus requires treatment.
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Erectile dysfunction (ED)

"These data suggest that ED may be the earliest manifestation of a generalized vascular disease and that these patients may be at an increased risk of later developing coronary artery disease," the study authors report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

ED is known to involve impaired blood flow to the penis, and men with conditions in which blood circulation is impaired, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes, are at increased risk of sexual dysfunction.