Role of venereal disease in increased risk of erectile dysfunction in men attending a tertiary health centre in south India

Erectile dysfunction(ED) is a major cause of concern among men. Sexual health is as important as physical health as it has a significant effect on the quality of life both in the patient and his spouse. Men with a previous history of venereal disease tend to have sexual dysfunctions due to feelings of guilt, fear of acquisition of HIV and transmitting it to their partners. Apart from the physical effect, the psychological effect of having an STD may also have an adverse impact on both male sexual function and fertility. For example genital herpes is a very agonizing disease as it is not completely curable. The psychological distress and psychosexual problems associated with a diagnosis of genital herpes is huge as the patient is always anxious about getting another episode. This will affect the quality of his sexual life. A cross sectional observational study was conducted among 100 sexually active men aged between 18 and 65 attending the STD OPD in a tertiary care centre, Southern India to assess the prevalence and risk factors of erectile dysfunction and to determine the association between venereal disease and erectile dysfunction, where they were asked to fill the questionnaire which included socio demographic profile, history of medical diseases and venereal diseases and International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire (IIEF-5).(1,2) Also a detailed physical examination was conducted. We found that 35 out of 100 patients had erectile dysfunction. In 35 patients, 19 had mild, 9 had moderate and 7 had severe erectile dysfunction. Diabetes was the most common association followed by alcohol consumption, intake of anti- hypertensive drugs and cigarette smoking. The prevalence of ED increased with age and was found to be less in the literate population. We also found that the previous history of venereal disease did not increase the risk of erectile dysfunction in our study.