Cb. Johannes et al., Incidence of erectile dysfunction in men 40 to 69 years old: Longitudinal results from the Massachusetts male aging study, J UROL, 163(2), 2000, pp. 460-463
Purpose: We estimated the incidence of erectile dysfunction in men 40 to 69
years old at study entry during an average 8.8-year followup, and determin
ed how risk varied with age, socioeconomic status and medical conditions.
Materials and Methods: Data from a randomly sampled population based longit
udinal study of Massachusetts men were analyzed. A total of 1,709 men compl
eted the baseline interview during 1987 to 1989 and 1,156 survivors complet
ed followup from 1995 to 1997. The analysis sample consisted of 847 men wit
hout erectile dysfunction at baseline and with complete followup informatio
n. Erectile dysfunction was assessed by discriminant analysis of 13 questio
ns from a self-administered sexual function questionnaire and a single glob
al self-rating question.
Results: The crude incidence rate for erectile dysfunction was 25.9 cases p
er 1,000 man-years (95% confidence interval [CI] 22.5 to 29.9). The annual
incidence rate increased with each decade of age and was 12.4 cases per 1,0
00 man-years (95% CI 9.0 to 16.9), 29.8 (24.0 to 37.0) and 46.4 (36.9 to 58
.4) for men 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60 to 69 years old, respectively. The ag
e adjusted risk of erectile dysfunction was higher for men with lower educa
tion, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. Population projections for
men 40 to 69 years old suggest; that 17,781 new cases of erectile dysfuncti
on in Massachusetts and 617,715 in the United States (white males only) are
expected annually.
Conclusions: Although prevalence estimates and cross-sectional correlates o
f erectile dysfunction have recently been established, incidence estimates
were lacking. Incidence is necessary to assess risk, and plan treatment and
prevention strategies. The risk of erectile dysfunction was about 26 cases
per 1,000 men annually, and increased with age, lower education, diabetes,
heart disease and hypertension.