prostate-report.org

Erectile dysfunction may be a feature of normal aging in men

Erectile dysfunction may be “normal” with age, while urinary or bowel function doesn’t necessarily decline with age, according to a Dutch study.

Using data from more than 3,800 participants in the European Randomized Study on Screening for Prostate Cancer, a research team from Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam assessed whether urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction “and the associated bother” were part of the “normal” aging process.

According to the investigators, the proportion of men with erectile dysfunction was significantly higher among older men, with more of them reporting either that they were sexually active but having problems with erections, or sexually inactive because of erectile problems.

Acording to investigation team, sexual inactivity is not necessarily the same as erectile dysfunction. Reasons for not being sexually active can also be not having a partner or not being interested (anymore). Not everybody who is sexually inactive is in need of medication.

Although urinary function was poorer and more bothersome in older age groups, the differences between age groups were not very great.

Bowel problems were uncommon, with no significant differences among age groups, the report indicates.

So, when these problems are seen in older men who have been treated for prostate cancer, they are more likely due to the treatment rather than to age alone, the team points out.