This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on Web of Science (8)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Men's Health  • Men's Sexual Function  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Mary E. Fischer, PhD; Mary Ellen Vitek; Don Hedeker, PhD; William G. Henderson, PhD; Steven J. Jacobsen, MD, PhD; Jack Goldberg, PhD

Arch Intern Med. 2004;164:165-168.

Background  The extent of genetic influence on erectile dysfunction (ED) is unknown. This study determines the contribution of heredity to ED in a sample of middle-aged men.

Methods  A classical twin study was conducted in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry, a national sample of male-male pairs (mean birth year, 1949) who served on active duty during the Vietnam era (1965-1975). A 1999 male health survey was completed by 890 monozygotic (MZ) and 619 dizygotic (DZ) pairs. The prevalence and heritability of 2 self-report indicators of ED, difficulty in having an erection and in maintaining an erection, are estimated.

Results  The prevalence of difficulty in having an erection is 23.3% and in maintaining an erection is 26.7%. Twin correlations for dysfunction in having an erection are 0.35 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.41) in MZ and 0.17 (95% CI, 0.09-0.27) in DZ pairs. For dysfunction in maintaining an erection, the twin correlations in MZ and DZ pairs are 0.39 (95% CI, 0.32-0.45) and 0.18 (95% CI, 0.09-0.27), respectively. The estimated heritability of liability for dysfunction in having an erection is 35% and in maintaining an erection is 42%. The heritable influence on ED remained significant after adjustment for ED risk factors.

Conclusions  The present study demonstrates an ED-specific genetic component that is independent of genetic influences from numerous ED risk factors. The results suggest that future molecular genetic studies to identify ED-related polymorphisms are warranted.

From the Vietnam Era Twin Registry/Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Wash (Drs Fischer and Goldberg); Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Ill (Ms Vitek and Dr Henderson); Epidemiology-Biostatistics Division, University of Illinois-Chicago (Dr Hedeker); and Division of Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minn (Dr Jacobsen). The authors have no relevant financial interest in this article.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?