Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov;80(5):1219-23.
doi: 10.1111/bcp.12696. Epub 2015 Jul 28.

Cardiovascular drugs and erectile dysfunction - a symmetry analysis

Lotte Rasmussen  1 , Jesper Hallas  1 , Kenneth Grønkjaer Madsen  1 , Anton Pottegård  1
Affiliations

Cardiovascular drugs and erectile dysfunction - a symmetry analysis

Lotte Rasmussen et al. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Aim: Erectile dysfunction is a common problem among patients with cardiovascular diseases and the influence of cardiovascular drugs is much debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short term potential for different cardiovascular drugs to affect the risk of being prescribed a drug against erectile dysfunction.

Methods: We employed a symmetry analysis design and included all Danish male individuals born before 1950 who filled their first ever prescription for a cardiovascular drug and a 5-phosphodiesterase inhibitor within a 6 month interval during 2002-2012. If the cardiovascular drug induces erectile dysfunction, this would manifest as a non-symmetrical distribution of subjects being prescribed the cardiovascular drug first vs. persons following the opposite pattern. Furthermore, we calculated the number of patients needed to treat for one additional patient to be treated for erectile dysfunction (NNTH).

Results: We identified 20 072 males with a median age of 64 years (IQR 60-70) who initiated a cardiovascular drug and a 5-phosphodiesterase inhibitor within a 6 month interval. Sequence ratios showed minor asymmetry in prescription orders after adjustment for trends in prescribing. This asymmetry was most profound for thiazides (1.28, 95% CI 1.20, 1.38), calcium channel blockers (1.29, 95% CI 1.21, 1.38) and ACE inhibitors (1.29, 95% CI 1.21, 1.37), suggesting a small liability of these drugs to provoke erectile dysfunction. NNTH values were generally large, in the range of 330-6400, corresponding to small absolute effects.

Conclusion: Our study does not suggest that cardiovascular drugs strongly affect the risk of being prescribed a drug against erectile dysfunction on a short term basis.

Keywords: cardiovascular agents; drug-related side effects and adverse reactions; erectile dysfunction; pharmacoepidemiology; phosphodiesterase inhibitors; symmetry analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Rosen RC. Sexual dysfunction as an obstacle to compliance with antihypertensive therapy. Blood Press Suppl. 1997;1:47–51. - PubMed
    1. McMahon CG. Erectile dysfunction. Intern Med J. 2014;44:18–26. - PubMed
    1. Baumhäkel M, Schlimmer N, Kratz M, Hackett G, Hacket G, Jackson G, Böhm M. Cardiovascular risk, drugs and erectile function - a systematic analysis. Int J Clin Pract. 2011;65:289–98. - PubMed
    1. Nicolai MPJ, Liem SS, Both S, Pelger RCM, Putter H, Schalij MJ, Elzevier HW. A review of the positive and negative effects of cardiovascular drugs on sexual function: a proposed table for use in clinical practice. Neth Heart J. 2014;22:11–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Derby CA, Barbour MM, Hume AL, McKinlay JB. Drug therapy and prevalence of erectile dysfunction in the Massachusetts Male Aging Study cohort. Pharmacotherapy. 2001;21:676–83. - PubMed

Substances