Association between Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Erectile Dysfunction

Cha, Jai Seong; Park, Jong Kwan

Abstract

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess whether there was an association between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in men.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
79 patients who had LUTS, between January 2002 and July 2004, were randomly retrospectively analyzed. LUTS and ED were assessed by validated symptom scales, including the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), the Danish Prostate Symptom Score1 (DAN-PSS1) and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). The patients were divided into three group according to age; younger than 60 (group I), 60 to 69 (group II), and 70 years or older (group III).
RESULTS
The mean age was 62.6+/-9.19 years. Prevalence rate of mild, moderate and severe LUTS were 12.9, 67.7 and 19.4% in group I, 8.3, 58.3 and 33.4% in group II, and 16.6, 54.2 and 29.2% in group III, respectively. The mean IIEF scores by IPSS according to the severity were 39.8, 38.4 and 28.7 in group I and 54.5, 39.8, and 24.3 in group II and 29.5, 16.5 and 15.6 in group III, retrospectively. In each group, the IIEF score decreased with increasing IPSS, LUTS was also shown to be statistically significantly correlated with the presence of ED (p=0.028). No statistical significance was found between the IPSS and DAN-PSS1 (p=0.740).
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggested that ED was highly prevalent among patients with LUTS, and erectile function should be evaluated in the patients with LUTS for the management of ED and to improve the quality of life of these patients.