Psoriasis and the risk of erectile dysfunction: a population-based case-control study.

INTRODUCTION

Psoriasis is associated with systemic metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, both of which share risk factors with erectile dysfunction (ED). However, few studies have investigated the association between ED and psoriasis.

AIM

This study set out to estimate the association between ED and having previously been diagnosed with psoriasis by using a population-based dataset with a case-control design.

METHODS

This study used administrative claim data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance program. We identified 4,606 patients with ED as the study group and randomly selected 13,818 patients as the comparison group. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the association between ED and having previously received a diagnosis of psoriasis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

The prevalence and risk of psoriasis between cases and controls were calculated.

RESULTS

Of the sampled patients, 136 (0.7%) had been diagnosed with psoriasis before the index date: 77 (1.7% of the cases) were from the study group and 59 (0.4% of controls) were from the control group. Conditional logistic regression analysis revealed that after adjusting for the patient's monthly income, geographic location, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, obesity, and alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence syndrome status, patients with ED were more likely to have been diagnosed with psoriasis before the index date than controls (odds ratio = 3.85; 95% confidence interval = 2.72-5.44).

CONCLUSIONS

There was an association between ED and prior psoriasis. The results of this study highlight a need for clinicians dealing with psoriasis patients to be alert to the development of ED.