Treatment of erectile dysfunction reduces psychological distress
Abstract
Mental stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular events in men with vascular risk factors (VRFs) and is also associated with erectile dysfunction (ED), a frequent complaint of men with VRFs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of inhibition of phosphodiesterase-5 or of placebo in men with ED and VRFs on self-evaluated psychological distress, erectile function and quality of sexual life. Thirty-six men with ED and VRFs were randomized to 4 weeks of tadalafil (20 mg/every other day) or placebo treatment. Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM), questions 1-3 of Life Satisfaction (LiSat) questionnaire, Symptom Check-List-90R, a multidimensional inventory exploring psychological dimensions were applied before and after treatment. The SHIM score improved after treatment with tadalafil compared with baseline and with placebo (F = 10.38; p = 0.0030). Sexual life satisfaction (LiSat-2) was significantly improved after tadalafil and after placebo, but a strong positive correlation was observed between LiSat-2 and SHIM score after tadalafil treatment (r = 0.59, p = 0.0003) and not after placebo (r = 0.22, p = 0.189). Psychological features were significantly changed after treatment, although a specific effect of tadalafil vs. placebo was observed only for interpersonal sensitivity (F = 4.48; p = 0.042). Obsessive-compulsive dimension, depression, anxiety, psychoticism were significantly improved in the tadalafil group and in the placebo group, although the improvement…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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