News item: ED => heart disease risk

[Custer Laststand]

A news story from the Los Angeles Times, by Thomas H. Maugh II, appeared in a local newspaper where I live that may be of interest to members of this forum who have problems with erectile dysfunction, including — but not limited to — those whose wives cuckold them because they can’t get it up.

The headline is, Erectile dysfunction may signal higher risk of death. (Note the headline of the original story may be different, because the headline for a given wire-service story is written independently by the editor or an assistant in each newspaper where the story appears.)

The following are some relevant quotes from this article, starting from the beginning. The dotted lines indicated that I’ve omitted text.

“For the first time, researchers have shown that erectile dysfunction (ED) is a strong predictor of the likelihood that men will die of heart disease.”

“Men who suffer from the problem, which some consider more an emotional than a physical issue, are twice as likely to succumb from cardiovascular disease or heart attacks as those who do not have the problem, German researchers reported Monday (15 Mar. 2010) in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. *

………..

“The results are probably not too surprising, said Dr. Robert Kloner, a cardiologist at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, because arteries in the penis are smaller so atherosclerosis shows up there sooner,” perhaps 3 to 4 years before the onset of cardiovascular disease.

“The take-home message, both experts said, is that when a man seeks treatment for ED, typically from a general practitioner, he should be given a full physical work-up to look for heart disease and should be referred to a cardiologist.”

…………

“In the study, Dr. Michael Bohm, a cardiologist at Germany’s University of Saarland, and his colleagues, studied 1,519 men from 13 countries who were involved in a study of 2 drugs to treat cardiovascular disease. The men were also queried about their ED at the beginning of the study, two years into it, and at the end of the study after 5 years. A full 55 percent of the men had ED at the beginning of the trial, nearly double the normal incidence of about 30 percent of men in the population at large.”

“The team reported that, in the five years of follow-up, men with ED were 1.9 times as likely to die from heart disease, 2.0 times as likely to have a heart attack, 1.2 times as likely to be hospitalized for heart failure, and 1.1 times as likely to have a stroke. The risks increased with the severity of the ED.”

----------------------

* Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association is a peer-reviewed medical scientific journal that publishes papers after critical evaluation by qualified scientists other than the authors and (for those papers that are accepted) revision in response to the critical comments of the reviewers. This paper can thus be taken as reasonably likely to be an outcome of reliable research.

 

[4julie]

Of course there are also many men who because of some heart problems end up on medications that ensure they become impotent!

 

[jim_oakey]

Or Is It To Sell Viagra?

Or are we being fooled (yet) again?
I'm a catty-man ( the modern term for a logger or lumber jack who hauls log via raft or water.) I'm 60 and have been hearing from my doc since 2001 that I should seriously get a stress test and a heart check out. But who can afford that, right? I've been a softee for near 20 years and very short of breath. But I can still haul log and get home in time to cut a few acres of grass and brush. Only thing I can't do is get-er-up unless jerking it for more time than I have to do so.
Now, of course, there are excepts to every rule. But as a level headed, woodsman it only takes me about 12 seconds after reading Custer's find to wonder if it's not the makers of Viagra working their magic on the ignorant public? Kind of like the message of TV is 'watch more TV.'
The message of the Tea Party is white supremacy. And remember, you're always in good hands with Allstate until you need to make a claim. But I've been wrong before so it would be wise - if you cherish life enough and your wife wants you to be a man again - to go get checked out. That is, of course, if you can afford a $7,500 stress test, the $2,000 reading of it, the time away from work, etc and so forth. I sure can't.

 

[Custer Laststand]

Some clarification...

Jim Oakey,

Thanks for your skeptical comments, which point out a need for some clarification.

I'm a catty-man (the modern term for a logger or lumber jack who hauls log via raft or water). .... I've been a softee for near 20 years and very short of breath. But I can still haul logs and get home in time to cut a few acres of grass and brush.

If that's what you do for a living and you "cut a few acres of grass and brush" after getting home from work in the evenings, I'd say you're in better shape — probably much better shape — than you seem to think you are.

But as a level headed woodsman it only takes me about 12 seconds after reading Custer's find to wonder if it's not the makers of Viagra working their magic on the ignorant public?

The best way to answer a question like that would be to find the original paper in the medical journal noted above, then look under "Acknowledgments" at the end and see whether Phizer (the maker of Viagra) funded the study... or if not, who did. The best indication of unbiased work would be if the study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and/or comparable government medical science-funding foundations in other countries. (I have not done that exercise.)

Phizer, incidentally, would not have gained financially by funding the above study (if they did). Becoming aware that one is at increased risk for heart disease because one has ED is unrelated to taking a Viagra-like ED med to counter the symptom. Rather, the manufacturers of such meds would gain if ED men live longer because they know they're at increased risk of heart-disease. In other words, taking measures to deal with their heart disease problems could enable them to live longer and thus buy more Viagra. Those who don't know they're at increased risk may die younger, after which they would not buy Viagra anymore (most likely).*

The message of the Tea Party is white supremacy.

You got that right.

.... It would be wise - if you cherish life enough and your wife wants you to be a man again - to go get checked out.

That's the message of the article I summarized above. Note, however, that taking appropriate measures to counter one's heart disease problem (if any) would not guarantee being able to get it up. But it could enable one to live longer.

That is, of course, if you can afford a $7,500 stress test, the $2,000 reading of it, the time away from work, and so forth. I sure can't.

In the relatively near future you may, in fact, be able to afford good health insurance and thus the heart stress testing you need, because of the national health care reform bill Congress just passed and which Obama just signed into law.

—Custer

* My father, who unfortunately is no longer living, once pointed out — not too long after Viagra first came on the market — that for him to take that would be like putting a flag pole on an abandoned building. (He and my late mother were elderly at the time.)

 

[monitaur]

CTscans were in the news today as well. And not in a good way.

 

[Custer Laststand]

True...

4Julie,

Regarding:

Of course there are also many men who because of some heart problems end up on medications that ensure they become impotent!

Good point. Medications that lower blood pressure, for example, are well-known for causing ED — or making it worse — as a side effect. Some other medications may also have this side effect.

Maintaining normal or even below-normal blood pressure is critical for reducing the risk of death from hearth disease, though, so this scene can be summarized as: "You pays your money and makes your choices."

—Custer