title: Safety and tolerability of oral erectile dysfunction treatments in the elderly.
abstract: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common medical condition that affects the sexual life of millions of men worldwide. It is generally accepted that sexual function tends to decline with aging, which is often associated with a higher prevalence of sexual problems, including ED and loss of libido. As the mean age of men seeking medical help for sexual dysfunction continues to increase, it is important to assess the safety and tolerability of currently available medical treatments in elderly men, who often share other co-morbidities that should be carefully evaluated when any type of ED therapy is considered. With this aim in mind, a MEDLINE search was conducted from 1 January 1998 to 31 May 2004 to identify studies assessing the efficacy, safety and tolerability of treatments for ED in the elderly. Particular care was taken to assess the cardiovascular safety of oral drugs for ED in this subset of patients, who often have multiple cardiovascular risk factors which contribute to a complicated clinical scenario. The most important conclusion of the paper is that the high efficacy, reliability, safety and tolerability of oral ED treatments makes them appropriate first-line therapies for elderly patients with ED.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salonia
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Briganti
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Montorsi
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maga
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dehò
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zanni
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazzoccoli
authors.forename: Nazareno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suardi
authors.forename: Patrizio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rigatti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montorsi
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000368:Aged; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D018783:Impotence, Vasculogenic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008571:Men