Alarming data: three million Italians suffer from it. It’s hard to underestimate the symptoms, especially for those under 40.
by ANTONIO CAPERNA
ROME – Erection problems can be a sign of risk of heart disease and also indicate the severity of cardiovascular disorders. This is indicated by an Australian study, the largest in the world in investigating the links between erection problems and heart disease, which investigated 95 thousand men over 45 for a few years. The risk increases with the severity of the dysfunction.
Those suffering from the severe form had an approximately 60% greater risk of being hospitalized for coronary disease compared to men without the dysfunction, while the risk of dying within two years was double. The arteries in the penis are smaller than those in the heart or brain or the periphery of the body, so they may show warning signs sooner.
Erectile dysfunction affects over 3 million Italians and is becoming a major problem not only for the elderly, so much so that 25% of men who suffer from it are under 40. In fact, one young person in 20, between the ages of 18 and 30, suffers from this disease, but few turn to specialists and among them 68% do not follow medical prescriptions. «It was once thought that the dysfunction was of psychological origin, while today it has been discovered that it is actually due to real organic causes – explains Professor Ermanno Greco, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Biology – European Hospital in Rome -.
In fact, erection is a vascular phenomenon due to both the influx of blood and the muscular relaxation of specialized vascular structures called penile cavernous bodies, which are obtained thanks to the release of nitric oxide, an endogenous vasodilator, during stimulation.”
For therapy, therefore, in addition to oral drugs, vasodilator injections and prosthetic surgery, natural substances such as Korean red ginseng and citrulline are being studied.
All vascular risk factors such as smoking, hyperglycemia, increased cholesterol and triglycerides, hypertension can cause erectile dysfunction, as can the use of drugs, medications and certain surgical interventions. The clinical symptoms can be multiple, from premature ejaculation, to the failure to maintain an erection, to incomplete penile rigidity, to a total failure to obtain an erection.
