Erectile dysfunction in diabetes and hypertension.

By direct interrogation and specific questions, the erectile function of 1,128 male adults, aged sixteen to eighty years and over, was elicited. The erectile function was based on ability to develop an erectile angle of 90 degrees and more, and this was used for classification purposes. Three hundred seventeen consecutive, unselected male diabetics and 117 nondiabetic male hypertensives were compared with 635 consecutive adult males with neither diabetes nor hypertension. Our results indicate that erectile dysfunction, partial or complete, is more prevalent in diabetics compared with nondiabetics of the same age groups. An unexpected finding was a meager relationship between hypertension and erectile disability. Antihypertensive drugs were responsible for only 2 cases of erectile dysfunction in our male hypertensive patients. The negative impact of age was noted in all age groups and in those with or without diabetes or hypertension.