Erectile Dysfunction Not Affected By Common Cholesterol, BP Meds

Combined or separate use of statins to lower cholesterol and candesartan with hydrochlorothiazide (Cand+HCTZ) to lower blood pressure (BP) have no effect on erectile function, a new study showed.

In the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation-3 (HOPE-3) trial, the researchers assessed 2153 men aged 55 years or older who had at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor. Mean Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) score at baseline was 23.0, and mean follow-up lasted 5.8 years.
_____________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Erectile Dysfunction Could Signal Silent CVD
Men With Diabetes Have Higher Risk for Erectile Dysfunction
_____________________________________________________________________________

Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with 10 mg/d rosuvastatin or placebo, and 16mg/12.5 mg/d Cand+HCTZ or placebo. The erectile function domain of the IIEF-EF score was used to measure erectile function.

Findings indicated that there was no difference in least square mean change in IIEF-EF scores among patients treated with rosuvastatin vs placebo (-1.4), Cand+HCTZ vs placebo (-1.6), or combination therapy vs double placebo.

“Cholesterol-lowering using a statin, and blood pressure-lowering using Cand+HCTZ, either alone or in combination, do not improve or adversely affect erectile function,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Joseph P, Lonn E, Bosch J, et al. Long-term effects of statins, blood pressure-lowering, and both on erectile function in persons at intermediate risk for cardiovascular disease: a substudy of the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation-3 (HOPE-3) randomized controlled trial. Can J Cardiol. 2018;34(1):38-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2017.09.026.