Review
CAMPERDOWN, Australia, March 23 - The rise of erectile dysfunction correlates nicely with an increase in cigarette smoking, researchers here reported.
Men who smoke at least a pack of cigarettes daily are 40% more likely to be impotent than nonsmokers, according to Li Ming Wen, M.D., and colleagues, of the Sydney South West Area Health Service.
The finding, reported in the March 23 issue of Tobacco Control, was based on a survey of 8,367 Australian men ages 16 to 59 who answered survey questions from the Australia Study of Health and Relationships.
More than one in four men who responded to the survey (27.2%) said they were current smokers and 6.3% of those smokers said they smoked more than a pack a day, while 20.9% said they smoked fewer than 20 cigarettes a day.
Erectile dysfunction lasting a month or more was reported by 9.1% of men surveyed, the authors wrote.
Compared with non-smokers, the odds ratio for erectile dysfunction was 1.24 for men who smoked less than a pack a day (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.52, P=0.04), they wrote. But for men who smoked more than a pack-a-day the odds ratio for erectile dysfunction jumped to 1.39 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.83, P=0.02).
Other factors that were associated with erectile dysfunction were older age, lower education and use of cardiovascular medications.
Moderate alcohol consumption (one to four drinks a day) was a significant independent factor reducing the odds ratio for erectile dysfunction in multivariate analysis (adjusted odds ratio 0.36, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.45).
The authors noted that the study was limited by its design, because it is difficult to make inferences about causality based on survey data and that further investigation would be necessary.
But they pointed that the wide cross-sectional sample that represented men of different ages, plus the apparent dose-dependent relationship between cigarettes smoked erectile dysfunction risk, are strengths of the study.
Smoke too much and become limp?
Smoke too much and become limp?
Not a very scientific study, but some correlation nonetheless.
I recall this side effect being discussed when I was in senior high, so nearly 20 years ago. Where do I sign up for a government grant to study what's already known? Perhaps I can look at the effect of alcohol on errectile dysfunction 
May 2003 - "Mission Accomplished"
June 2005 - "The mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight"
-- G W Bush, freelance writer for The Daily Show.
June 2005 - "The mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight"
-- G W Bush, freelance writer for The Daily Show.
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Arborealus
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