Erectile dysfunction as a predictive factor for coronary artery disease

The Egyptian Heart Journal (2013) 65, 93 97 Egyptian Society of Cardiology The Egyptian Heart Journal www.elsevier.com/locate/ehj www.sciencedirect.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE Erectile dysfunction as a predictive factor for coronary artery disease Amr A. Youssef a, *, Samir S. Abdul Kader a, Ali M. Mahran b, Mahmood A. Hussein a a Assiut University Hospital, Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt b Venereology and Sexology, Assiut University Hospital, Dermatology, Venereology and Andrology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt Received 9 March 2012; accepted 26 July 2012 Available online 29 August 2012 KEYWORDS Predictive; Erectile dysfunction; Coronary artery disease Abstract Aim of the work: To assess the relation between erectile dysfunction (ED) and the incidence of the coronary artery disease (CAD) and its severity. Patients and methods: We studied 80 patients {40 patients with CAD (patient group) and 40 persons not known to have CAD (control group)}. For all patients full history including cardiac symptoms and International Index of Erectile Function 5 score (ILEF5) was taken. ED was considered when ILEF5 score was 621. Coronary angiography was done to all patients and coronary lesion P70% was considered significant. Results: ED was significantly higher in patient group (18 cases, 45%) than control group (8 cases, 20%) {P-value = 0.017}. In most of the patients with ED (66.7%), the onset of ED occurred before the onset of CAD. There was a significant correlation between increase in the severity (decrease in ED score) of ED and increase in the number of coronary vessel with significant lesion (P value = 0.001). Conclusion: ED is frequently present in CAD patients and frequently comes before the onset of CAD symptoms, representing an early warning sign for latent ischemic heart disease. Severity of ED is related to severity of CAD. ª 2012 Egyptian Society of Cardiology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction * Corresponding author. Mobile: +20 01006554042. E-mail address: amryoussef111@yahoo.com (A.A. Youssef). Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Society of Cardiology. Production and hosting by Elsevier Previous studies have shown an increased incidence of erectile dysfunction (ED) among patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease (CAD). The mechanism by which ED is linked to CAD is endothelial dysfunction. 1 Both conditions, share many risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, depression, obesity, and cigarette smoking. In diabetic patients ED is strongly associated with silent ischemic heart disease. Because vascular disturbance of the penile endothelium leads 1110-2608 ª 2012 Egyptian Society of Cardiology. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ehj.2012.07.005

94 A.A. Youssef et al. to ED, the possibility arises that ED may be an early indicator for systemic endothelial dysfunction and subsequent CAD. ED as a marker to increased cardiovascular risk may indicate the need for aggressive evaluation for cardiovascular disease. 1 The aim of our study is to assess the relation between ED and the incidence of the CAD and its severity. We will assess also ED as an early warning sign for CAD. 2. Patients and methods We studied 80 patients: 40 patients with CAD (patient group) and 40 persons not known to have CAD {normal coronaries during routine diagnostic coronary angiography (35 persons) or negative history, electrocardiogram (ECG) and stress ECG findings for ischemia (5 persons)} (control group), selected from the cardiology department, outpatient clinic of cardiology and andrology in Assiut University Hospital. Four persons (2 patients and 2 controls) refused penile duplex study. Patients with cerebrovascular stroke, diabetes, hypertension, previous pelvic surgery or radiation or penile congenital anomalies were excluded from our study. Full history: including cardiovascular risk factors, presence of chest pain, history of medications and full details about sexual performance including International Index of Erectile Function (ILEF5) 2 was taken from all patients. ED was considered when ILEF5 score was 621. IIEF-5 QUESTIONNAIRE 2 The IIEF-5 score is the sum of the ordinal responses to the five items; thus the score can range from 5 to 25. vessels affected. Coronary lesion P70% was considered significant. 3 Patients with ED IIEF 5 score 6 21 were sent to andrology clinic for further complete genital examination and investigation. Pharmaco-penile Duplex ultrasonography (PPDU) was done by intracorporeal injection of prostaglandin E1 to evaluate the arterial side by measurement of peak systolic velocity (PSV) and also suggests the venous side by the end diastolic velocity (EDV) after 5, 15 and 30 min. If PSV after 5 min is below 35 cm/s this is with arterial insufficiency. If the EDV is more than 5 cm/s it means venous leakage. Statistics: Data were analyzed using SPSS software package version 18. Quantitative data were expressed using range, mean, standard deviation and median while qualitative data were expressed in frequency and percent. Qualitative data were analyzed using Chi-square test also exact tests such as Fisher exact and Monte Carlo were applied to compare different groups. Quantitative data were analyzed using student s t-test to compare between two groups. Spearman coefficient was used to analyze correlation between any two variables. P value was assumed to be significant at 0.05. 3. Results We studied 80 cases (40 patients have CAD and 40 controls). Four cases (2 patients and 2 controls) refused to do penile Duplex. There was no significant difference between the age of patient group that ranged 36 59 years with mean 47 ± 6.19 years and control group of 35 60 years with mean How do you rate your confidence that you could get and keep an erection When you had erections with never/ sexual stimulation, how often never were your erections hard enough for penetration During sexual intercourse, how never/ often were you able to maintain never your erection after you had penetrated your partner During sexual intercourse, how difficult was it to maintain your erection to completion of intercourse When you attempted sexual intercourse, how often was it satisfactory for you? Very low Low Moderate High Very high Extremely difficult never/ never than half the times Very difficult Difficult Slightly difficult Not difficult than half the times 1 2 3 4 5 Full physical examination: including palpation of lower limb extremities pulsation, auscultation of carotid arteries for murmurs, blood pressure measurement, cardiac examination and full genital examination was also done. ECG and stress ECG (when indicated), for signs of ischemia and echocardiography, for searching any segmental wall abnormality and evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction were also done. We did coronary angiography: to assess the presence or absence of coronary lesion and the number of 46 ± 7.2 years (Table 1). The ED was significantly higher in patient group (18 cases, 45%) than control group (8 cases, 20%) {P-value = 0.017} (Table 2). We found that the onset of ED was 2 120 months with mean 23.9 ± 28 in patient group while was 5 180 months with mean 48.6 ± 65 in control (Table 2). The relation between onset of ED and CAD in 12 patients (66.7%) the onset of ED occurred before the onset of CAD while in 5 patients (27.8%) the onset of ED occurred after

Erectile dysfunction as a predictive factorfor coronary artery disease 95 Table 1 Comparison between the different studied groups according to age. Control (n = 40) Patients (n = 40) Test of sig. Age <40 13 32.5 6 15.0 P = 0.211 40 50 17 42.5 21 52.5 >50 10 25.0 13 32.5 Range 35.0 60.0 36.0 59.0 P = 0.313 Mean ± SD 46.08 ± 7.20 47.60 ± 6.19 Median 47.0 48.0 Table 2 Comparison between the different studied groups according to erectile dysfunction (ED) (presence, score and onset). Control (n = 40) Patients (n = 40) Test of sig. ED No 32 80.0 22 55.0 p = 0.017 Yes 8 20.0 18 45.0 Score Range 7.0 25.0 6.0 25.0 p = 0.006 Mean ± SD 22.10 ± 4.12 19.18 ± 5.08 Median 24.0 22.0 Onset of ED (n =8) (n = 18) Range 5.0 180.0 2.0 120.0 p = 0.449 Mean ± SD 48.6 ± 65.15 23.9 ± 28.25 Median 18.0 12 ED 12 66.7% 3 r = -0.754 p = 0.001 No of Vessels 2 1 ED & IHD 1 5.6% IHD 5 27.8% Figure 1 Comparison between the different studied groups according to onset of Erectile dysfunction and onset of Ischemic heart diseases. ED = erectile dysfunction occurred before ischemic heart disease, IHD = ischemic heart disease occurred before erectile dysfunction, ED and IHD = erectile dysfunction and ischemic heart disease occurred at same time. CAD. In one patient both ED & IHD began at the same time (Fig. 1). The relation between ED occurrence and the left anterior descending (LAD) lesion in patient group we found significant 0 0 5 10 15 20 Score Figure 2 Correlation between erectile dysfunction score and number of vessels in patients with erectile dysfunction. LAD lesion in 10 (55%) of ED patients while 5 (28%) ED patients had no LAD lesion and 3 patients did not have coronary angiography. The correlation between score and number of coronary vessels with significant lesion there was significant correlation between increase in the severity (decrease in ED score) of ED and increase in the number of coronary vessel with significant lesion (P value = 0.001) (Fig. 2). The etiology of ED in our study in the patient group 5 (27.8%) had arterial insufficiency, 9 (50%) patients had

96 A.A. Youssef et al. Table 3 Comparison between the different studied groups according to penile duplex. Control (n = 8) Patients (n = 18) P value Penile of duplex Arterial 2 25.0 5 27.8 1.000 Venous 1 12.5 1 5.6 0.529 Arterial and venous 2 25.0 9 50.0 0.395 Normal 1 12.5 1 5.6 0.529 Pt not do duplex 2 25.0 2 11.1 0.563 arterial and venous, one (5.6%) patient had venous leakage and other was normal. Two patients did not undergo penile duplex. In the control group 2 (25%) persons had arterial insufficiency, 2 (25%) had arterial and venous, 1 (12.5%) had venous leakage and one had normal duplex. Two persons did not undergo penile duplex (Table 3). 4. Discussion Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease share many risk factors and their pathophysiology is mediated through endothelial dysfunction. 4,5 Cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors increase the risk of ED, on the other hand ER may be an early warning sign for future cardiovascular events. 1,6 We found ED in 45% of patient group and in 66.7% of them the ED begins before the CAD. This agrees with Gazzaruso et al. 7 who, found that patients who developed major adverse cardiac events over the course of approximately 47 months were more likely to have ED (61.2%) versus those who did not (36.4%). This also agrees with Montorsi et al. 8 who studied 300 consecutive unselected patients with angiographically documented CAD. ED was detected in 49% of patients and in 67% of them ED preceded angina symptoms by a mean interval of 34 months. Ma et al. 9 found ED in 27% of diabetic patients without clinical evidence of CAD. Over the course of 4 years, they found that the incidence of CAD was greater in ED patients than those without ED. Jackson et al. 10 said that the time interval among the onset of ED symptoms and the occurrence of CAD symptoms and cardiovascular events is estimated at 2 3 years and 3 5 years respectively; this interval allows for risk factor reduction. Our results also agree with Gazzaruso et al. 11 who said that ED was significantly more prevalent in the CAD than in the NO CAD group (37.8 versus 15.1%; P < 0.001) and was a predictor of asymptomatic CAD. So both CAD and ED conditions, which may be a consequence of underlying endothelial dysfunction, share many risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, depression, obesity, and cigarette smoking. Because vascular disturbance of the penile endothelium leads to ED, the possibility arises that ED may be an early indicator for systemic endothelial dysfunction and subsequent CVD. Recognizing ED as a disease marker for CVD may help to identify individuals at risk for having a premature cardiovascular event. 1 The occurrence of ER before CAD may be explained by the artery size hypothesis, which suggests that larger vessels being able to better tolerate the same amount of plaque compared with smaller ones. 8 Yao et al. 12 said that the results of their study validated that subclinical endothelial dysfunction and low-grade inflammation may be the underlying pathogenesis of ED with no well-known etiology. Young patients complaining of ED should be screened for cardiovascular risk factors and possible subclinical atherosclerosis and they added that measurement of flow mediated vasodilatation, high sensitivity C-reactive protein and Framingham risk score can improve our ability to predict and treat ED, as well as subclinical cardiovascular disease early for young male. Ewane et al. 13 concluded that the results showed a link between ED and the development of future CVD in some patients, but ED was not shown to be an independent risk predictor that is any better than the traditional Framingham risk factors. Screening for CVD may, however, be rewarding in younger patients with severe ED and in patients with concurrent CVD risk factors. Montorsi et al. 14 found that IIEF-ED score was significantly lower in multi-vessel disease when compared with single-vessel disease [18 (11.5 23) vs. 21 (16 24), P = 0.0069]. An inverse relationship was found between modified Gensini s score and IIEF score: R = 0.312, P < 0.0001. These findings agree with our findings. We also found an inverse relationship between the ED score and the number of coronary vessels with significant lesion (P = 0.001). Our results also agree with Riedner et al. 15 who concluded that men with less than 60 years of age who report ED presented a higher risk of having chronic CAD and more severe disease diagnosed by coronary angiography. Limitations: The relatively fewer number of our patients and the need to do this work at multi-centers on patients with different risk factors to CAD. 5. Conclusion ED is frequently present in CAD patients and frequently comes before the onset of CAD symptoms, representing an early warning sign for latent ischemic heart disease. Severity of ED is related to severity of CAD. References 1. Shin D, Pregenzer G, Gardin JM. Erectile dysfunction: a disease marker for cardiovascular disease. Cardiol Rev 2011;19(1):5 11. 2. Rosen RC, Cappelleri JC, Smith MD, Lipsky J, Pena BM. Development and evaluation of an abridged, 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) as a diagnostic tool for erectile dysfunction. Int J Impot Res 1999;11:319 26. 3. Nicholls SJ, Tuzcu EM, Sipahi I, et al. Intravascular ultrasound in cardiovascular medicine. Circulation 2006;114:e55.

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