A study on 225 men with type 2 diabetes and 50 non-diabetic men has found that 173 diabetics or 78.7% had some degree of erectile dysfunction (ED), whereas prevalence of ED in the non-diabetic control group was 46%.
All participants were aged between 18 years and 65 years. The observational study was conducted from April 2015 to June 2017 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here and was published in the recent edition of Current Medicine Research and Practice .
Common complication
Atul Kakar, author and vice-chairperson, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said: “ED is a commonly seen complication in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ED has high prevalence in diabetics....”
Duration of diabetes
Atul Gogia, who participated in the study and is a senior consultant, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said: “One of the interesting findings of the study was that the longer the duration of diabetes, the more the risk of ED. Among participants who had diabetes for less than five years, 43.6% had ED, with only 3.6% having severe ED. Among those with diabetes for 6-10 years, 83% had ED, with 10.9% having severe ED. In case of patients suffering from diabetes for over 10 years, 78.6% had ED, with 16.4% having severe ED.”
ED is often distressing and an embarrassing condition not just for men who are affected but also for their sexual partners. It has a negative impact on the psychological well-being and leads to marital disharmony. It has been observed in various studies that healthcare professionals do not take sexual history of diabetic males despite ED being a common complication.
SHIM questionnaire
“Patients also feel shy when it comes to reporting ED. Our study shows that the Sexual Health Inventory For Men [SHIM]questionnaire can be easily used as a validated index of for ED,” said M. Sondhi, research author in the Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
