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Psychiatric morbidity is frequently undetected in patients with erectile dysfunction

Mallis D, Moysidis K, Nakopoulou E, Papaharitou S, Hatzimouratidis K, Hatzichristou D. J Urol 2005;174:1913-1916.

KEY WORDS: penis; impotence; sexual dysfunctions, psychological; depression

There is accumulating evidence that a strong positive relationship between psychological factors exists, such as depression and ED. However, the lifetime prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in men with ED is not well established. In fact, though most patients with ED seek help in urological/andrological settings, data on their psychiatric profile are considerably lacking.

• The authors investigated the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in 103 patients (20 to 76 years old) with erectile dysfunction (ED), who attended an andrology outpatient clinic. Most patients were classified with moderate and severe ED (26.2% and 44.7%, respectively).
• Psychiatric morbidity, potentially affecting treatment outcome, was highly prevalent in patients with ED (63.1%) - including depressive disorders (25.2%), anxiety disorders (11.7%), comorbidity (6.8%) and personality disorders (5.8%).
• Because lifetime psychological problems were reported by more than half of the patients, a psychosocial history seems mandatory. On the other hand, partner support appeared to have a significant role in the patient psychological state: As a matter of fact, the authors found a positive association between the severity of depressive symptoms and the patient tendency to discuss the problem with their partner (p 0.01).

See the abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=16217344&dopt=Citation