Young Men Also Experience Sexual Dysfunction

April 30, 2006 — -- Middle-aged and older men have been the primary focus of the vast majority of research on erectile dysfunction. Dr. Najah S. Musacchio, a fellow at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, wondered if ED could be an issue for the young men she might encounter in her practice.

Musacchio and fellow researchers conducted a small survey of college-age males in Chicago to begin to answer the question.

The results they found surprised them. Thirteen percent -- or about 30 men out of 234 -- reported having erectile dysfunction, while 25 percent said they lost an erection while putting on a condom, and another 6 percent said they had used drugs like Viagra, Cialis or Levitra to help out.

While the findings point to problem not usually associated with young men, Dr. Irwin Goldstein, a Boston-based urologist specializing in sexual medicine, said more younger men suffer from ED than people might think.

Goldstein estimates that between 20 percent and 25 percent of college-aged males have some sort of sexual problem. And he said that if you were to study men who use alcohol, the number is probably higher.

"If you flip the coin to females, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction is over 30 percent," Goldstein added.

The young men in the survey who described a history of sexual dysfunction said they didn't discuss this problem with their health care providers. This concerned survey authors because ED is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes such as depression, anxiety and decreased sexual satisfaction.

The survey also shed light on how and why young men use drugs that affect sexual performance. Most of those who used ED medications said they did so to overcome the negative effect that illicit drugs and alcohol can have on sex. Sixty-four percent of those who used ED medications said they did so in combination with alcohol, marijuana, GHB, methamphetamine or cocaine.