The relationship between anogenital distance and lifelong premature ejaculation.

BACKGROUND

Many diseases have been associated with anogenital distance, as an indicator of intrauterine androgen exposure.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between lifelong premature ejaculation and anogenital distance.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The study included 140 participants: 70 with lifelong premature ejaculation (group 1) and 70 without any ejaculatory complaints (group 2). Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool and stopwatch intravaginal ejaculatory latency time were recorded from all participants in order to evaluate ejaculatory function. Two variants of anogenital distance were measured: anogenital distance (from anus to the posterior base of the scrotum) from anus to the posterior base of the scrotum and anogenital distance (from anus to the cephalad insertion of the penis) to the cephalad insertion of the penis. We compared differences between groups and correlations between anogenital distance variants and patients' characteristics.

RESULTS

The groups were similar in terms of age, BMI, and total testosterone levels. The mean anogenital distance (from anus to the posterior base of the scrotum) scores were 59.45 ± 10.76 vs. 55.02 ± 10.13 (p = 0.01), and anogenital distance (from anus to the cephalad insertion of the penis) scores were 128.37 ± 22.2 vs. 126.78 ± 16.21 (p = 0.63) in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Significant correlation was observed between anogenital distance (from anus to the posterior base of the scrotum) and Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool scores (r = 0.199, p = 0.019) and intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (r = -0.185, p = 0.028). There were no statistically significant differences between anogenital distance (from anus to the posterior base of the scrotum) scores and total testosterone levels and between anogenital distance (from anus to the cephalad insertion of the penis) and Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool scores or intravaginal ejaculatory latency time.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that longer anogenital distance is associated with higher possibility of lifelong premature ejaculation. However, further studies are needed to confirm our results.