Ejaculatory latency and control in men with premature ejaculation: an analysis across sexual activities using multiple sources of information

Objective: Men with premature ejaculation (PE) exhibit diminished control o ver and short latency to ejaculation. The present study attempted to deline ate further characteristics of men with PE and to address a number of presu med hypotheses regarding the etiology of this disorder. Methods: Twenty-six men with PE were compared with an age-matched group of 13 sexually functio nal men on multiple indices of erectile and ejaculatory response during coi tal and masturbatory activities. These data were collected through retrospe ctive, prospective, and laboratory methods. Results: Psychophysiological te sting indicated greater ejaculatory vulnerability to penile stimulation, al though not visual erotic stimulation, in PE men than functional controls. P E men also showed subtle anomalies in the way they perceived their somatic response. The correlation between measures of ejaculatory latency and contr ol was positive and high for intercourse, but low or even negative for mast urbation. Whereas functional men showed consistency in ejaculatory latency over coital and masturbatory activities, PE men exhibited much shorter late ncies during coitus than masturbation. Data collected under various methodo logies (retrospective. prospective, and laboratory) showed greater consiste ncy among sexually functional subjects; and preliminary analysis of laborat ory data suggests psychophysiological methodology is as effective in differ entiating dysfunctional from functional men as prospective and retrospectiv e methodologies. Conclusion: Although ejaculatory latency and control tend to be related, these measures are not always stable over different kinds of sexual activity or using different methods of data collection. Psychophysi ological methodology is effective in differentiating group membership (PE v s, control), but does not predict individual ejaculatory responses measured prospectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.