Analgesics Can Cause Impotence

Older men tend to take more painkillers and have more sexual problems, but that means a problem causes the other?

Maybe so. It was concluded that a new study, said the link between drugs for pain and impotence remained even after the exclusion of age and several other diseases as possible explanations.

Research shows that regular users of drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen and celebrex are 38% more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than men who do not take anti-inflammatory painkillers.

According to the National Institute of American health care, about 1 in every 100 men in their 40s have erectile dysfunction, compared with almost half of men over 75 years.

In the current study, researchers analyzed questionnaires about the health of nearly 81,000 men aged between 45 and 69 years. In general, only half said painkillers regularly (at least five times per week) and less than a third reported moderate to severe erectile dysfunction.

Of those who took painkillers regularly, 64% said they never had an erection, compared with 36% of men who did not take the medication as often.

After verification of factors such as age, weight, high blood pressure and heart disease, researchers still found a 38% greater risk of erectile dysfunction among men who take painkillers.

Still, scientists warn that the results do not prove that painkillers cause impotence. It is possible that unknown factors are at play, or they have failed to eliminate the influence of other diseases entirely.

For example, many men take a low dose of aspirin because they are at greater risk of heart attack, which means your blood vessels are not in shape, and this can affect the penis as well.

The arteries of the penis are smaller than those that go to the heart, and therefore can be blocked until several years ago. They obstruct the blood that normally makes the penis grow and become hard.

However, scientists believe that such analgesic drugs block hormones that "command" the men's erections, which may help explain the new findings.

As the study did not test painkillers directly, the researchers caution that men should not stop using the medicine for fear of reducing the chances of getting an erection.