Drug therapy and prevalence of erectile dysfunction in the Massachusetts male aging study cohort

Study Objective. To examine the association of commonly used drugs with ere ctile dysfunction (ED) at two time points. Design. Population-based, cross-sectional, survey analysis. Participants. Randomly selected cohort of men in the Massachusetts Male Agi ng Study (MMAS) that included 1476 men for the baseline (1987-1989) and 922 for the follow-up (1995-1997) analyses. Intervention. Crude associations between specific drug categories were, sta tistics. Logistic regression analysis was used to examined with chi (2) sep arate the effect of drugs from the influence of heart disease, hypertension , untreated diabetes, or depressive symptoms. Measurements and Main Results. In the MMAS, medical history current drug us e, and erectile function status were ascertained with in-home interviews. I n unadjusted analyses, thiazide and nonthiazide diuretics, beta -blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, benzodi azepines, digitalis, nitrates, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reduct ase inhibitors, and histamine(2) receptor antagonists were associated with prevalent ED. Adjustment for comorbidities and health behaviors attenuated these associations, with only nonthiazide diuretics and benzodiazepines rem aining statistically significant. Conclusion. Several common drugs may increase prevalence of ED; however, ad ditional data from larger populations are needed to determine whether these associations are independent of underlying health conditions and to explor e the effects of dosage and duration of use.