OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in a large cohort of Brazilian men who were screened for prostate cancer, and to determine risk factors in this population, as there are large cultural differences among countries in reporting the frequency of ED, and it is likely that the prevalence of ED among men screened for prostate cancer cannot be generally applied across countries.SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The analysis focused on the baseline characteristics of 1008 consecutive South American men from Brazil with no known prostate disease who had routine screening for prostate cancer by urologists. The variables analysed were patient age, urinary symptoms, patient health-related quality of life (HRQL), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, prostate volume and erectile function. To assess lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and HRQL, we used the American Urological Association symptom score and its appended eighth question, respectively. Benign prostatic hyperplasia was defined as a prostate volume of >30 g. Sexual function was assessed using the five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire. Thus, ED was considered to absent for scores of 22-25, mild for 17-21, mild to moderate for 12-16, moderate for 8-11, or severe for 5-7. Obesity was defined by calculating the body mass index (BMI), and categorized as underweight (<18.5 kg/m(2)), normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)), overweight (25-29.9 kg/m(2)) or obese (= 30 kg/m(2)). The mean (sd) PSA level was 4.3 (6.7) ng/mL and the mean prostate volume 37.8 (21.8) mL. The correlation of ED with these variables was estimated using unconditional logistic regression models.RESULTS: Information about erectile function was available for 908 patients. ED was considered to be absent, mild, mild to moderate, moderate and severe in 169 (18.6%), 210 (23.1%), 169 (18.6%), 138 (15.2%) and 222 (24.5%) patients, respectively. The ED was severe in 18.4%, 25.7% and 43.4% of patients with mild, moderate and severe LUTS, respectively (P < 0.001). The answer to the HRQL question was also significantly associated with ED; ED was severe in 16.5% of patients feeling delighted/pleased and in 35.8% of patients feeling unhappy/terrible (P < 0.001). The prostate volume was significantly related to ED. The BMI category showed that normal weight, overweight and obese patients had similar rates of ED (P = 0.415); ED was severe in about a quarter of the patients in each of these categories, and 50% and 24% of patients in the underweight and greater BMI groups had severe ED, respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Of men screened for prostate cancer in Brazil, approximately 40% have moderate or severe ED. Severe LUTS, higher HRQL scores, a large prostate volume, a low BMI and higher PSA levels might be associated with higher rates of ED. These variables should be considered when analysing the erectile function of patients screened for prostate cancer.
Aged Aged, 80 and over