“Smoking is harmful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs”

King James I

June is Men’s Health Month, and this month I will write several articles about men’s health issues. In today’s post we will discuss the relationship between smoking and erectile dysfunction (ED).

A group of researchers at the School of Public Health at the Tongji Medical College in Wuhan China performed a meta-analysis of existing studies which covered the topic of smoking and ED. They eventually included ten studies which involved more than 50,000 men. Both smoking and ED were assessed by the use of questionnaires.

What the researchers discovered was that not only the quantity of cigarettes was positively associated with the risk of ED, but the duration (number of years) was associated with the risk of ED as well. For instance, the risk of ED increased 14% for smoking 10 cigarettes a day, and the risk of ED increased 15% for ten years of smoking.

One of the strengths of this meta-analysis is that is pools data from several countries, including Australia, China, U.S., Brazil and Italy, which increases the applicability of the results. Hopefully data like this will encourage men who smoke to think twice before they light up the next cigarette.

(Source- Journal of Sexual Medicine 2014; 11)

This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.