Association between Erectile Dysfunction and Quality of Life in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) and coronary artery disease (CAD) share the same risk factors and the associations between ED, quality of life (QoL) and CAD have been the subject of recent studies. Objective: To evaluate whether ED is associated with worsening QoL in patients with CAD. Methods: A cross-sectional, multicenter, prospective and analytic study was carried out from EDcember 2014 to April 2016, which recruited 304 men (mean age: 57 ± 9.9 years) with clinical diagnosis of CAD. QoL was assessed using Short Form-36 and ED by the International Erectile Function InEDx. EDscriptive and analytical statistical analyzes were performed, and the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test was used to test whether there are significant differences in each quality of life domain when comparing different types of ED. For all tests, p ≤ 0.05 was consiEDred significant. Results: The prevalence of ED was 76.3%. The median and percentiles 25 and 75 of each life quality domain according to the absence of ED; mild ED, mild to moderate, moderate and severe ED and severe ED, respectively, were: Functional capacity: 85 (63-100), 75 (50 -95), 60 (32-85), 55 (35-75), 50 (30-70), p < 0.001; Physical aspects: 87 (0-100), 40 (0-100), 0 (0-100), 0 (0-31), 0 (0-12), p < 0.001; Pain: 72 (51-100), 66 (51-100), 74 (51-100), 62 (51-100), 51 (31-62), p = 0.001; General state of health: 77 (62-87), 72 (57-77), 67 (55-82), 67 (59-75), 52 (37-68), p < 0.001; Vitality: 75 (60-85), 65 (50-75), 65 (55-75), 60 (43-75), 50 (32-65), p < 0.001; Social Aspects: 87 (62-100), 87 (62-100), 87 (68-100), 75 (62-100), 75 (50-93), p = 0.139; Emotional Aspects: 100 (58-100), 100 (33-100), 100 (33-100), 100 (0-100), 0 (0-100), p = 0.001; Mental health: 80 (67-89), 72 (60-84), 72 (66-80), 68 (58-80), 56 (50-74), p < 0.001. Conclusions: The prevalence of erectile dysfunction was high. ED was associated with worsening of QoL in patients with CAD.