The connection between impotence and heart disease
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The connection between impotence and heart disease
Men who have been given a clean bill of health, beware – if you are experiencing trouble in getting or keeping an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse, this may be signaling issues with heart disease.
Impotence, better known as erectile dysfunction (ED), has a connection with heart disease that is not far-fetched. Both ED and heart disease increase with age, especially after the age of 45. Both share common causes. A 2004 study which appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, did a lengthy study of 570 middle-aged men beginning in 1972 and found that men who smoked, were overweight, and had high cholesterol or high triglycerides – all risk factors for heart disease – also had links to erection difficulties 25 years later.
Another study published online in the journal Vascular Medicine titled “The relationship of erectile dysfunction and subclinical cardiovascular disease: A systematic review and meta- analysis,” focuses on a novel risk factor for cardiovascular disease which tends to get overlooked – erectile dysfunction (ED).
This systematic review and meta-analysis of 28 studies looked at the link between ED and measures of early CVD. Researcher found a significant association of ED with impaired endothelial function which is a marker of the ability of blood vessels to relax that is an early indication of CVD. Another finding was ED was associated with increased carotid intimal medical thickness which is another indicator of atherosclerosis.
Conclusions from the study was that young men who have ED are at a greater risk of having CVD and would benefit from a more aggressive CVD assessment and management plan for these men having issues with ED. Any young man, who mentions to his doctor that he is experiencing ED, should be considered at risk of heart disease. His doctor should take immediate steps to not place him in a low-risk category just because of his age but instead to look further by conducting tests to determine the extent of any heart disease found.
Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease
The heart and a man’s penis have a common link when it comes to atherosclerosis, a disease that causes fat to build up in the body’s arteries.
Fatty plaques narrow the inside diameter of an artery, slowing down blood flow. The fatty plaque in coronary arteries can restrict blood flow to the heart muscles which could lead to a heart attack. When this same plaque builds up in the penile arteries, it can cause erectile dysfunction.
In regards to men achieving an erection, it’s a matter of hydraulics. Blood fills the penis, causing it to swell and become firm. But getting to that stage requires extraordinary orchestration of body mechanisms. Chemical messengers, blood vessels, nerves, hormones, and the psyche much work together.
When a man gets a touch, look or even a thought, any of those stimuli can nudge the brain to send signals of arousal down the spinal cord and into the nerves in the penis. The nerves “talk” to one another by releasing nitric oxide and other chemical messengers. These chemical initiate the erection by relaxing the smooth muscle cells lining the tiny arteries that lead to the penis.
Since erections depend on the blood vessels serving the penis, it is not surprising that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of ED with the most common being atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis occurs when fatty deposits build up on artery walls, resulting in a narrowing and clogging of them. This accumulation of fatty plaques also interferes with nitric oxide production which can weaken or prevent an erection from happening.
Since these plaques grow slowly, symptoms may appear gradually over time. For a man, this may mean they sometimes have ED and sometimes things work just fine. Another symptom could be they notice it takes them longer to get an erection than usual and the erection they do get is more difficult to sustain. Each of these symptoms are warning signs. Once a man begins experiencing ED, he should see his primary care physician as soon as possible to look into the possibility of him having CVD.
The main takeaway from the studies above is that any man, regardless of their age, who is having ED, should be aware that it can indicate a higher future risk of CVD. One of the best methods of reducing the incidence of any disease is prevention and early detection. Doctors should use this information to identify men by always asking them if they are experiencing ED and from there, use this information to intensity cardiovascular risk prevention strategies.