Relation between psychosocial risk factors and incident erectile dysfunction: Prospective results from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is recognized as a major public health problem. E D may be due to a wide range of factors, but recent work has focused on the medical and physical etiology of ED, The importance of psychosocial risk f actors should not be dismissed, however, and several cross-sectional studie s have reported associations between ED and depression, anger, and dominanc e. Whether these factors are prospectively associated with the risk of ED h as yet to be established. Longitudinal data obtained from 776 respondents i n the Massachusetts Male Aging Study (1987-1997) were used to examine wheth er the presence of depressive symptoms, the way in which anger was expresse d, or the trait of dominance independently contributed to the risk of ED 8. 8 years later. The results suggest that new cases of ED are much more likel y to occur among men who exhibit a submissive personality. The implications of these findings are discussed.