Impotence: alarm signal for young men's hearts too

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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If it doesn't work out in bed, very few men think of cardiovascular disease. Potency problems are an early warning signal for calcified coronary arteries. This is especially true for young men.

Atherosclerosis is a gradual process that goes unnoticed for a long time. The walls of the vessels harden and thicken and eventually narrow. This often also affects the coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood. In this case one speaks of a coronary heart disease (CHD). It takes many years for the first symptoms to appear because the heart is undersupplied.

Then at the latest it can become dangerous: Coronary heart disease is a main risk factor for heart attacks and strokes and is therefore responsible for most deaths in Western countries.

Diseased vessels in younger years

Even in young men, there are not infrequently the first changes to the blood vessels. Especially if you are overweight, smoke, have high blood pressure or do little physical activity.

All of these factors also favor erectile dysfunction. Among other things, because the erectile tissue in the penis cannot fill sufficiently with blood if the blood vessels supplying it are narrowed.

Symptom-free risk candidates

The connection between coronary heart disease and erectile dysfunction has been known for a long time - but does this also apply at an early, symptom-free stage? US researchers investigated this connection in a large overview study. This included data from 28 studies on the subject.

The result: The scientists were able to confirm a clear connection between erectile dysfunction and CHD.

The researchers assessed impaired endothelial function as a sign of early coronary heart disease. The endothelium lines the blood vessels from the inside and is changed in structure and function in arteriosclerosis. For the measurement, a special ultrasound is used to check how well the vessel diameter adapts to the changing blood flow.

Effective early detection

“Such a measurement could be a simple and effective method to detect risky vascular changes at an early stage,” the researchers write. This applies in particular to young men, for whom otherwise more complex methods are rarely used to detect CHD.

Ultrasound measurements of the inner wall thickness of the carotid artery provided further evidence of the onset of CAD. This was more often thickened in men with potency problems.

Take countermeasures at an early stage

Since constricted heart vessels can be fatal, early detection is important. In that case, the progression of the disease could be effectively slowed down: through lifestyle changes such as better nutrition, more exercise and smoking cessation. If necessary, however, also through drug treatment with blood lipid and blood pressure lowerers.

“Our study underscores the importance of looking for coronary heart disease more actively, especially in men with erectile dysfunction, the researchers write. This also includes young men who are not yet considered to be a risk group due to their age.

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