Study of sexual function of male diabetics

Abstract

We studied the actual general state of sexual dysfunction in 201 male diabetics (age range: 22~76 years) who were commuting outpatients, using the Sapporo Medical University's Sexual Function Questionnaire. The control group consisted of 6,426 healthy male subjects. The principal parameters taken into account by the Questionnaire were the libido and ability to achieve/maintain an erection, with consideration given to the factor of the subject's age. The results were as follows. 1. The diabetic patients who were experiencing neuropathy showed a decrease in the ability to achieve/maintain an erection at an earlier age than the patients without neuropathy. In addition, the number of patients with a decreased ability to achieve/maintain an erection was found to be 30 (45%) of 67 cases with neuropathy compared with 24 (18%) of 134 cases without neuropathy. The severity of that decreased ability was also greater in the cases with neuropathy. 2. In comparison with the healthy male control subjects, the diabetics showed decreases in libido and the ability to achieve/maintain an erection which were not very severe at younger ages, but became striking after the age of about 60 years. Thus, the degree of dysfunction accelerated with increasing age. After the age of 60 years, the erection score was found to decrease in 31.7% of the patients without neuropathy but in 61.1% of the patients with neuropathy. 3. Weighted regression analysis showed that the most important factor involved in the ability to achieve/maintain an erection was the subject's age (contribution rate: 27.2%), followed by neuropathy (7.4%). These two factors represented the explanatory factor of erectile dysfunction in approximately 1/3 of the diabetics. In addition, the factor of age accelerates the progress of damage to the blood vessels, and it is surmised that this deterioration is deeply involved in sexual dysfunction.