Fertility and Infertility Research News Portal

Objective: To determine whether patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) have a higher incidence of insulin resistance (IR) when compared with controls.Design: Prospective case–control study.Setting: Academic medical center.Patient(s): Twenty-nine nondiabetic men aged 18–66 years were enrolled. Of these, 28 completed the study: 17 had ED, and 11 did not.Intervention(s): Validated ED questionnaires, examination, serum hormones evaluation, and oral glucose tolerance testing.Main Outcome Measure(s): Association of IR with ED.Result(s): The association between worsening degrees of both lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and ED was reaffirmed, as was a potential correlation between the two—epinephrine. There was a negative association between serum levels of epinephrine and scores on the 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Dysfunction for ED (Spearman correlation coefficient = ?0.38). On the other hand, men with ED were not more likely to have IR compared with controls.Conclusion(s): Epinephrine may be the common link between ED and LUTS.