Impotence in Medical Clinic Outpatients
- Michael F. Slag, MD;
- John E. Morley, MB, BCh;
- Michael K. Elson, PhD;
- Dace L. Trence, MD;
- Carrie J. Nelson, MD;
- Averial E. Nelson, MD;
- William B. Kinlaw, MD;
- H. Stephen Beyer, MD;
- Frank Q. Nuttall, MD, PhD;
- Rex B. Shafer, MD
- From the Sections of Endocrinology and Metabolism (Drs Slag, Morley, Trence, Kinlaw, Beyer, and Nuttall) and Nuclear Medicine (Drs Elson, Trence, and Shafer), Veterans Administration Medical Center; and the Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota (Drs Slag, Morley, Elson, C. Nelson, A. Nelson, Kinlaw, Beyer, Nuttall, and Shafer), Minneapolis.
Abstract
One thousand one hundred eighty men in a medical outpatient clinic were screened as to the presence of impotence. Four hundred one men (34%) were impotent, and of those, 188 (47%) chose to be examined for their problem. After a comprehensive evaluation the following diagnoses were obtained: medication effect, 25%; psychogenic, 14%; neurological, 7%; urologic, 6%; primary hypogonadism, 10%; secondary hypogonadism, 9%; diabetes mellitus, 9%; hypothyroidism, 5%; hyperthyroidism, 1%; hyperprolactinemia, 4%; miscellaneous, 4%; and unknown causes, 7%. The mean age of the impotent patients was 59.4 years, and the prevalence of alcoholism was 7%. Luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, thyroxine, triiodothyronine (T3), T3 resin uptake, and prolactin studies were necessary to diagnose individual cases. We conclude that erectile dysfunction is a common and often overlooked problem in middle-aged men followed in a medical clinic.
(JAMA 1983;249:1736-1740)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to the Neuroendocrine Research Laboratory (111G), Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55417 (Dr Morley).
