title: How Serious Is Erectile Dysfunction in Men's Lives? Comparative Data From Korean Adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Whereas sexual function has long been assumed to be an important component of adult men's lives, the impact of sexual dysfunction has not been estimated in parallel to other modern disease entities. We compared the seriousness of erectile dysfunction (ED) with that of other diseases by use of self-administered questionnaires.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2012 and July 2012, 434 healthy male volunteers (group 1) and 263 ED patients (group 2) were enrolled. The questionnaire consisted of the following: "If you must undergo only one disease in all your life, which disease could you select among these items or ED?" The comparative disease entities included hypertension, diabetes mellitus (oral hypoglycemic agent/insulin injection), hemodialysis, myocardial infarction, herpes zoster, chronic sinusitis, chronic otitis media, gastric cancer (early/late), lung cancer (early/late), liver cancer (early/late), and dementia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group 1 recognized ED as being a more serious disease than hypertension, diabetes mellitus (oral hypoglycemic agent), herpes zoster, chronic sinusitis, and chronic otitis media. In comparison, group 2 recognized ED as being a more serious condition than diabetes mellitus (insulin injection) and dementia (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). In particular, ED was deemed to be more serious than hemodialysis, gastric cancer (early), lung cancer (early), and liver cancer (early) by men in group 2 in their 30s to 40s, and these results were statistically significant compared with the same age subgroups in group 1 (p<0.001, p<0.007, p<0.02, and p<0.007, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In contrast with their healthy counterparts, Korean men with ED recognized ED as being as serious as hemodialysis, dementia, and early stage cancer, which reflects the severe bother of ED in Korean patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Yoon Seob
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Ji Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Young Hwii
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Phil Hyun
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hee Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Ki Hak
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Moon
keywords: Erectile dysfunction; Quality of life; Questionnaires