Here's a rare and odd glimmer of good news for men who have type 2 diabetes: taking Viagra may reduce your risk of heart disease and improve your chances of surviving a cardiac arrest.

Researchers from the University of Manchester examined the health records of almost 6,000 men with type 2 diabetes aged between 40 and 89 years old. They discovered that erectile dysfunction treatments (Viagra is just one example) that block an enzyme called PDE5 will also reduce risk of death in type 2 diabetes.

Compared with non-users, the cases in which PDE5 inhibiting drugs were prescribed experienced lower percentage of deaths during follow-up and lower risk of death by any cause. Even after adjusting for age and other factors that affect heart disease risk, risk of death was still reduced. The scientists also learned that there were significantly fewer heart attacks in people taking erectile dysfunction treatment over the course of the study. Furthermore, patients who had a history of heart attack or had one during the study period, were found to be at a significantly lower risk of death as well.

One of the Manchester scientists, British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellow Professor Andrew Trafford, previously discovered that heart cells from a failing heart survive longer when they receive the erectile dysfunction treatment. The rest of the team is now looking to ascertain whether the same drugs can also prevent abnormal heart rhythms. Such rhythms are responsible for killing up to half of heart failure patients. The researchers hope that these two laboratory studies, in animals, will then lead to clinical trials in people with heart failure.

“Our laboratory work was pointing us towards the potential benefits of these erectile dysfunction treatments on the heart so it’s reassuring to learn that they could reduce heart attack risk and improve heart attack survival in people with diabetes. Having diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease so any treatments that could reduce that risk are urgently needed. Erectile dysfunction treatments like Viagra are already licensed for use so, if clinical trials provide further evidence of a lifesaving benefit, it might be possible to start treating people with this drug in the not too distant future,” wrote Trafford.

The research was published in BMJ.