title: Smoking, diabetes, blood hypertension: possible etiologic role for Peyronie's disease? Analysis in 279 patients with a control group in Sicily.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the proportion of patients with Peyronie's Disease (PD) and the possible association with its potential risk factors in the general population of the central and western Sicily in our weekly andrological outpatient clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited a sample of 279 consecutive patients consulting our andrological outpatient clinic. Two arms were created: the first one composed by PD patients (men with symptoms suggestive for PD), the second one composed by patients with other andrological diseases (control arm). For each patient we evaluated the age, cigarette smoking, diabetes, blood hypertension and erectile function. In the PD arm we administered validated questionnaires to determine the erectile function status by the International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF-5) and the pain status during erection by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A univariate analysis was conducted using R software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We enrolled 279 consecutive patients. The number of PD patients was 97 (34,7%). The univariate analysis showed a correlation between PD and cigarette smoking (p = 0.0242), blood hypertension (p &lt; 0.001), erectile dysfunction (p &lt; 0.001). No significant association was observed between diabetes and PD (p = 0.358). The median age of PD arm was 60 years and the median age of the control arm was 63,5 years; therefore the median age of PD arm resulted lower than the median age of the control arm (p = 0,031).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Peyronie's disease is more common than we might think; furthermore it can be diagnosed among young patients. According to our results, cigarette smoking and blood hypertension may be considered statically significant risk factors for developing PD. On the contrary diabetes seems not to be a risk factor for PD. According to our results PD should be sought also in young patients. Further studies are necessary to confirm that removing the indicated risk factors may reduce the incidence of PD.
authors.affiliation: Section of Urology, Department of Surgical, Oncological and Stomatological Sciences, AOUP "P. Giaccone", University of Palermo. carlo.pavone@unipa.it.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pavone
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Amato
authors.forename: Nino
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dispensa
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Torretta
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010411:Penile Induration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012802:Sicily / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires