Is There A Connection Between ED And Heart Disease, Heart Attack, And Death From Cardiovascular Disease?

The 45 and Up study is the first large-scale study of men that finds a significant connection between the inability to have sex and the subsequent development of heart disease and even deaths from heart disease. The complete inability to have sex predicted later cardiovascular illness even when tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, treatment for high blood pressure, treatment for high cholesterol, physical activity, marital status, income, education, body mass index (BMI), and diabetes are taken into account. But does erectile dysfunction really cause heart and blood vessel disease?

The Australian research team does not think so. They believe that erectile dysfunction is not so much a cause of heart disease as a it is a diagnostic symptom or "biomarker" of cardiovascular disease before it is otherwise detectable.

The researchers speculate that erectile dysfunction is an obvious way to detect the earliest stage of cardiovascular disease, which is often understood as endothelial dysfunction.

Endothelial Dysfunction Leads to Both Erectile Dysfunction and Heart Disease

What is endothelial dysfunction? The epithelium is the lining of the blood vessel. To let blood flow into the penis, the epithelium of the blood vessels making up the "pump" of the penis known as the cavernus cavernosum has to relax. To keep that blood in the penis so it can stay erect, the epithelium of the blood vessels that make up the cavernus cavernosum has to tense up and tighten.

There is a similar process in the endothelial layer of blood vessels all over the body. Sometimes blood vessels need to relax. Sometimes they need to tighten. When blood vessels lose their ability to do this, even before they are "clogged" by atherosclerosis, at first ED is a problem and then problems show up elsewhere in the body.

What Every Man Over 45 Needs to Do About ED and Cardiovascular Disease

What should a man do if he experiences ED? There are several other causes of impotence, including testosterone deficiency, stress, and simply being with the wrong partner or having unrealistic expectations. These issues should be addressed. But when a man gets a prescription for Viagra, Levitra, or Cialis, he should also get an appointment for an EKG and a stress test, and get regular checkups of cardiovascular health.