Horsepower of doctors’ cars correlates with cardiovascular risk and sedentary lifestyle but not with sexual dysfunction or sexual satisfaction

Abstract

The horsepower not only of doctors’ cars correlates with personal income and social status. However, no clear relationship has previously been described between the horsepower of doctors’ cars and cardiovascular health or sexual dysfunction and/or satisfaction. Objective: Cross-sectional online survey to evaluate associations between self-reported horsepower of physicians’ cars and health aspects. Methods: Of 1877 physicians from the two University-Hospitals in Austria that were asked to participate in the study, 363 (37.7 ± 8.0 years, 208 (57.3%) men) were included into the final analysis. Results: Physicians that own a car with a stronger engine were significantly older, were more often male, had more often a leading position, had a higher monthly income (all p < 0.001), had a higher scientific output (p = 0.030), and had hypercholesteremia more often (p = 0.009). They also tended to have a higher body mass index (p = 0.088), reported a higher maximum weight in previous years (p = 0.004) and less often reported regular healthy commuting to and from work (p = 0.010). No significant associations were found for self-reported physical fitness, smoking status, and arterial hypertension. In addition, sexual satisfaction and sexual dysfunction were also not related to horsepower in the whole population and the male subgroup. The findings essentially persisted after controlling for age. Conclusion: The horsepower of Austrian physicians’ cars correlates with senior position and increased cardiovascular risk. However, our data shows no relationship between sexual dysfunction or lack of sexual satisfaction and the horsepower of doctors’ cars.