Endocrine Abstracts

About 8–10% of erectile dysfunction (ED) is caused by hormonal causes, but in men over 65 years testosterone deficiency due to aging seems to play important role. In population of Polish men with relative poor health status, the prevalence of testosterone deficiency in elderly men with ED is probably higher. We evaluated the prevalence of low and low-normal testosterone levels in men with ED in population of Polish men over 65 years.

Material and methods: 286 men (mean age 72.2 years) wit ED completed a sexual activity questionnaire (International Index of Erectile Function - IIEF-5). Possible scores on the IIEF-5 are 1 to 25 and erectile dysfunction was classified into 5 categories namely severe - 1 to 7, moderate - 8 to 11, mild to moderate - 12 to 16, mild - 17 to 21 and none - 22 to 25 points. Serum total testosterone was measured in all men.

Results: The prevalence of testosterone deficiency was 17, 33, 42 and 57% for testosterone levels of <200, <250, <300, and <350 ng/dl respectively. The degree of ED was significant higher in men with lowest testosterone levels (P<0.002). The degree of ED in all group was mild in 39.5% of cases, mild to moderate in 26.2%, moderate in 18.2% and severe in 16%. We observed a statistically significant inverse relationship between age and total testosterone levels (r=−0.3328, P<0.05), similar to IIEF-5 score and total testosterone (r=−0.3149, P<0,05) and IIEF-5 score and age (r=−0.3463, P <0.05).

Conclusions: Testosterone deficiency was very common in population of Polish men with ED and testosterone levels correlated negatively with age and IIEF-5 score.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.