Statin Use May Improve Men’s Sexual Health

In addition to seeing improvements in cholesterol levels, older men taking statins may notice some positive effects from the medication in the bedroom as well.

Researchers suggest that cholesterol-lowering statins not only decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke, but also improve sexual health, in a new study presented March 29 at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Washington DC.  
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“Statins improved erectile function,” said principal investigator John B. Kostis, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ “This may help increase adherence to statin therapy among patients who need statin treatment for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.” 

Kostis and colleagues performed a meta-analysis that included 11 randomized controlled research studies on erectile dysfunction and statins. They measured the effect of statin therapy on erectile dysfunction using the five-item version of the International Inventory of Erectile Function (IIEF).

Compared to the control group, patients taking statins showed a 3.4-point increase in IIEF scores, which is larger than the effect of lifestyle modification and approximately one-third to one-half of that previously reported with phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors. The average age of participants and the degree of LDL cholesterol lowering did not alter the effect on IIEF.

While further study is needed to determine the link between statin therapy and the improvement of erectile function, Kostis suggested it may be related to decreased oxidative stress. “The probable mechanism is through increased availability of nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator of the penile arterial system leading to erection,” he said.  

“On the other hand, cholesterol is a precursor of testosterone and there are reports of testosterone decrease associated with the decrease of cholesterol by statins,” Kostis said. “In this meta-analysis, the balance favored a beneficial effect of statins on erectile function.”  

Before statins can be prescribed for erectile dysfunction alone, Kostis said more research is needed because the number of studies that have been done and published to date is only 11, the total number of patients amounts to less than 700, and the duration of treatment has been rather short.   

He and his colleagues are currently doing similar studies in other aspects of statin therapy and other treatments of erectile dysfunction. “A well-powered, placebo-controlled study, possibly with factorial design (statin, PDE5 inhibitor, testosterone), would be very useful,” Kostis said. “Also studies of longer duration would be desirable—the effect of testosterone appears to increase with longer use.”

—Colleen Mullarkey

Reference

Kostis JB, Dobrzynski JM. Effect of statins on erectile function. Presented at: The American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session; 2014 Mar 29; Washington DC.