Erectile Dysfunction and an Unhealthy Heart

Researchers have looked at the signs and symptoms that patients experienced in the months and even years leading up to a heart attack. One of the symptoms for men is ED (erectile dysfunction).

"The heart, together with the arteries that feed it, is one big muscle, and when it starts to fail, the symptoms can show up in many parts of the body," says cardiologist Jonathan Goldstein of St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Difficulty achieving or keeping erections is common in men with coronary artery disease, but often the connection is not made. One survey of European men being treated for cardiovascular disease found that two out of three had suffered from erectile dysfunction for months or years before they were diagnosed with heart trouble.

Just as arteries around the heart can narrow and harden, so can those that supply the penis. And because those arteries are smaller, they tend to show damage much sooner - as much as three to four YEARS before the disease would otherwise be detected.



Recent studies on the connection between ED and cardiovascular disease have been so convincing that doctors now consider it the standard of care to do a full cardiovascular workup when a man comes in complaining of ED, according to cardiologist Goldstein. He says, "In recent years, there's been pretty clear evidence that there's a substantially increased risk of heart attack and death in patients with erectile dysfunction."

ED caused by heart disease isn't immediately distinguishable from ED caused by other issues. If you have problems getting or maintining an erection, that's reason enough to visit your doctor to investigate why. "Today, any patient who comes in with ED is considered a cardiovascular patient until proven otherwise," says Goldstein.

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