Can impotence be related to coronary artery disease?« Back to Questions List

Impotence is a common condition that affects the health of middle-aged and older men, with a prevalence of 52% among men between the ages of 40 and 70. However, not many people pay attention to impotence. Many people think that impotence is a minor disease and do not pay attention to it, but they do not know that impotence can indicate the occurrence of coronary heart disease.

The International Journal of Clinical Practice once published a research article that found that impotence often occurs before coronary artery disease becomes symptomatic, suggesting that impotence is an early symptom of coronary artery disease.

Many years ago, clinical studies have found that the presence of impotence in both healthy and diabetic patients predicts that the person may have coronary heart disease at a time when no abnormality can be detected by conventional clinical methods. Therefore, some scientists have been working on how impotence can be used to predict coronary heart disease.

Impotence, like coronary artery disease, is a symptom of organ ischemia caused by a vascular lesion. Only impotence manifests as a weak erection, while coronary artery disease manifests as angina pectoris. You have the same risk factors, such as high blood lipids, diabetes, obesity, and other diseases that tend to damage blood vessels (such as the development of atherosclerosis), and are equally susceptible to both impotence and coronary heart disease. Since the diameter of the arteries supplying the penis is smaller than the diameter of the blood vessels supplying the heart (coronary arteries), the penis is affected first and symptoms appear. In other words, impotence occurs before angina pectoris.

Researchers have found that about 2/3 of men have symptoms of impotence 2-3 years before the onset of coronary heart disease. And some of them will have some serious vascular-related diseases (such as heart attack and stroke) 3-5 years after the onset of impotence.

Not only can impotence be used to predict coronary heart disease, but people who have had impotence have a much higher chance of developing coronary heart disease than those who do not have impotence. Men with impotence have a 1.3-1.6 times increased risk of cardiovascular disease over a 10-year period. Since impotent men have an increased risk of developing a vascular disease such as coronary artery disease, the risk of death from the disease increases significantly for that patient if he or she suffers from any other disease while also suffering from impotence.

Therefore, people who suffer from impotence should pay more attention to their health. However, suffering from impotence is not the end of the world, and it is quite possible to cure impotence and heart disease as long as you treat it with a positive attitude. The first thing to do is to change your lifestyle, such as reducing your calorie intake and increasing your physical activity to lose weight. Secondly, if you suffer from hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, you should take appropriate measures to treat them actively.