Association between plasma fluorescent oxidation products and erectile dysfunction: A prospective study.
BACKGROUND
Existing epidemiological studies of the association between oxidative stress and erectile dysfunction (ED) are sparse and inconclusive, which is likely due to cross-sectional design and small sample size. Therefore, we investigated the association between biomarkers of oxidative stress and ED in prospective setting among a relatively large sample size of men.


METHODS
We conducted the prospective study among 917 men ages between 47 and 80 years at the time of blood draw, which is a part of nested prospective case-control study of prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Plasma fluorescent oxidation products (FlOPs), a global biomarker for oxidative stress, were measured at three excitation/emission wavelengths (360/420 nm named as FlOP_360; 320/420 nm named as FlOP_320 and 400/475 nm named as FlOP_400).


RESULTS
Approximately 35% of men developed ED during follow-up. We did not find an independent association between FlOP_360, FlOP_320, FlOP_400 and risk of ED in the multivariable adjusted model (Tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: odds ratio [OR] = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.61-1.34, P(trend) = 0.54 for FlOP_360; OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.49-1.07, P(trend) = 0.27 for FlOP_320; and OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.66-1.45, P(trend) = 0.72 for FlOP_400). Further analysis of the association between FlOPs and ED in the fasting samples or controls only (free of prostate cancer incidence) did not change the results appreciably.


CONCLUSIONS
Plasma FlOPs were not associated with the risk of ED, suggesting oxidative stress may not be an independent risk factor for ED.
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Kettering Complex, 3223 Eden Ave, Cincinnati, OH, USA, 45267-0056. ysm992511@sina.com.
Shuman
S
Yang
Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. egiovann@hsph.harvard.edu.|The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. egiovann@hsph.harvard.edu.
Edward
E
Giovannucci
Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. brace.bracken@uc.edu.
Bruce
B
Bracken
Division of Environmental Genetics and Molecular Toxicology, Cincinnati, OH, USA. hosm@ucmail.uc.edu.|Center for Environmental Genetics, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. hosm@ucmail.uc.edu.
Shuk-Mei
SM
Ho
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Kettering Complex, 3223 Eden Ave, Cincinnati, OH, USA, 45267-0056. tianying.wu@uc.edu.
Tianying
T
Wu
D062107:Advanced Oxidation Protein Products / Q000097:blood*; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D062107:Advanced Oxidation Protein Products; D015415:Biomarkers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species