Incidence of Erectile Impotence and Determination of Sexual dysfunctions in Diabetic Neuropathic Saudi Men

Abstract

Objectives: The present study was aimed at evaluating the incidence of erectile impotence and sexual dysfunctions associated with diabetic neuropathies prevailing in male Saudi population. Methods: In this investigation 100 Type-1 and 150 Type-2 diabetes mellitus patients with and without an objective evidence of neuropathy having an age span in between 15 and 65 years and duration of diabetes distributed over 25 years were included. All the subjects were evaluated for the incidence of erectile impotence and sexual dysfunctions. Results: The largest correlation of the incidence of impotence associated with a consistent increase with the advancement in age (about 80%) was found in both Type-1 and Type-2 diabetic patients having symptomatic autonomic neuropathy. However no such correlation with respect to age was found in both types of diabetic men without neuropathy. A non significant association in the incidence of impotence among Type-1 and Type-2 diabetic patients with/without neuropathy was also observed. Patient-reported outcomes using responses to individual items of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), erectile dysfunction, orgasmic dysfunction, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction were found to be significantly low in both types of diabetic neuropathic patients (p<0.001). Decreased sexual desire, as opposed to other erectile dysfunctions was the most common form of sexual dysfunction noted in these neuropathic patients, thus suggesting high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions with long standing diabetic neuropathic men. Conclusion: It would appear that erectile impotence and altered sexual dysfunctions are directly associated with an increased tendency to autonomic neuropathy in these patients irrespective of their type of diabetes.