title: Population-based estimates of medical comorbidities in erectile dysfunction in a Taiwanese population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Erectile dysfunction (ED) is usually associated with systemic disorders. This population-based study supports and expands on previous research. It also presents data in a Taiwanese male population where existing data on this topic remain sparse.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence and risk of 36 medical comorbidities in patients with ED compared with the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,213 patients with ED and 11,065 matching controls were selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset. We chose 22 comorbidities from the Elixhauser comorbidity index, 10 highly prevalent medical conditions in an Asian population, and four male gender-specific comorbidities for analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conditional logistic regression analyses conditioned on age group and monthly income were performed to investigate the risk of various comorbidities for patients with and without ED, after adjusting for the geographic region and level of urbanization of the patient's community.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with ED were at an increased risk for multiple systemic comorbidities. Conditional regression analyses showed that patients with ED were at a higher risk for hypertrophy of the prostate (odds ratio [OR] = 12.87), chronic prostatitis (OR = 9.36), alcohol abuse (OR = 3.60), drug abuse (OR = 2.62), urinary incontinence (OR = 2.58), ankylosing spondylitis (OR = 2.19), peripheral vascular disorder (OR = 1.98), ischemic heart disease (OR = 1.94), psychoses (OR = 1.97), depression (OR = 1.88), uncomplicated diabetes (OR = 1.91), complicated diabetes (OR = 1.84), hepatitis B or C (OR = 1.71), hyperlipidemia (OR = 1.69), and chronic pulmonary disease (OR = 1.55) than patients without ED.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show that patients with ED have a higher prevalence of multiple noncardiovascular comorbidities than the general population in Taiwan.
authors: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Ban Ciao, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors: Shiu-Dong
authors: SD
authors: Chung
authors: Yi-Kuang
authors: YK
authors: Chen
authors: Jiunn-Horng
authors: JH
authors: Kang
authors: Joseph J
authors: JJ
authors: Keller
authors: Chung-Chien
authors: CC
authors: Huang
authors: Herng-Ching
authors: HC
authors: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology