MedWire News: Research shows that men with Type 2 diabetes and erectile dysfunction (ED) have increased risk for the metabolic syndrome, central adiposity, and microvascular complications compared with those without ED.
ED is a frequent comorbidity in patients with increased cardiometabolic risk, such as those with Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
However, little research has been carried out on the relationship between ED and microvascular disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes, say the researchers.
For this study, Michel Hermans (Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium) and colleagues recruited 83 male Type 2 diabetes patients with ED, aged 58 years on average and with a mean duration of diabetes of 10 years, and 51 age-matched men with a similar duration of Type 2 diabetes but no ED.
ED was assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-5 questionnaire, with a score of 1–20 indicating dysfunction and a score of 21–25 indicating normal function.
The team found that men with ED had a significantly higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome than controls, at 88% versus 64%.
In addition, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and visceral fat were all significantly higher in diabetic men with ED than in those without ED.
The researchers note that there were no differences between groups in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), smoking status, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, cholesterol concentration, prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD), glomerular filtration rate, and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study 10-year cardiovascular risk score .
However, the prevalences of retinopathy, polyneuropathy, elevated albuminuria, and transient ischemic attacks and/or stroke (composite endpoint of peripheral artery disease), were all significantly higher in patients with ED than in those without.
“Our data show that diagnosing ED in men with Type 2 diabetes warrants a detailed search for established microangiopathy in target organs and subclinical atherosclerosis in peripheral vessels in addition to the recommended screening for CAD,” conclude Hermans et al in the journal Diabetes & Metabolism.
“Such a search should encompass the earliest stages of atherosclerosis and, in particular, endothelial dysfunction and small-vessel subclinical disease,” they add.
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