THURSDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Frequent sexual intercourse
may cut down on a man's chances of developing erectile dysfunction,
Finnish researchers report.
"This is the same as any other part of the body. It's what we in
vascular surgery refer to as the 'use it or lose it' concept," said
Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an associate professor of urology at
UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School Hackensack University Medical
Center. "Sexual activity will promote maintenance of normal
erectile function down the line."
The report was published in the July issue of
The American Journal of Medicine.
In the study, led by Dr. Juha Koskimaki, from Tampere University
Hospital's Department of Urology, researchers collected data on 989
Finnish men aged 55 to 75 years old.
The researchers found that men who said they had sexual
intercourse less than once a week had twice the risk of developing
erectile dysfunction, compared with men reporting having sexual
intercourse once a week.
Among men who had sexual intercourse less than once a week,
there were 79 cases of erectile dysfunction per 1,000 men. That
number dropped to 32 cases per 1,000 among men who said they had
sexual intercourse once a week, and it dropped even further, to 16
per 1,000, among men who said they had sexual intercourse three or
more times a week, the researchers reported.
The frequency of morning erections was not associated with the
incidence of moderate erectile dysfunction, the researchers
noted.
However, the development of complete erectile dysfunction could
be predicted from the frequency of morning erections. Among men
with less than one morning erection a week, the risk of developing
erectile dysfunction was 2.5-fold greater than among men who had
two to three morning erections per week.
"Regular intercourse has an important role in preserving
erectile function among elderly men, whereas morning erection does
not exert a similar effect," Koskimaki said in a statement.
"Continued sexual activity decreases the incidence of erectile
dysfunction in direct proportion to coital frequency."
Sadeghi-Nejad said there is a scientific basis for this finding,
and it also has implications for rehabilitation of patients after
prostate cancer treatment.
"What is very hot these days is what we can do to rehabilitate
people who develop erection problems after prostate cancer surgery
or radiation therapy," Sadeghi-Nejad said. "Anything you can do to
increase oxygenation in the penis will help get patients back to
normal."
If one can naturally engage in behaviors that increase blood
flow to the penis, it will have a positive effect in preventing
erectile dysfunction, Sadeghi-Nejad said.
Sadeghi-Nejad noted that the study only addressed intercourse,
and not masturbation. "This is essentially the same concept,"
Sadeghi-Nejad said. "Anything you can do to bring blood to the
penis is beneficial," he added.
More information
For more about sexual dysfunction, visit the
U.S. National Library of Medicine.
