Erectile Dysfunction and Testosterone Deficiency in Young Men: A Retrospective Study

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is a common sexual condition, and its prevalence rises with age, with severe ED affecting 5% of men at age 40 and 15% of men at age 70. According to several research, the prevalence of ED in young men aged 20 to 40 years ranges from 1.7 % to 13%.Low testosterone is a well known but uncommon cause of ED. It is thought that normal testosterone level is not required for normal erections to occur, and additional amounts of testosterone do not further increase erection function.

The goal of this study is to identify hypogonadism in young men with ED. This is a retrospective clinic-based study conducted on young men aged 20 to 40 in South India. A group of 142 men with Premature Ejaculation (PME) and no ED were compared to another group of 269 men with ED with or without PME who attended the clinic at the same time. Total testosterone levels were less than 240 ng/dl in 3% of men in the PME group and 17% of men in the ED group. Total testosterone levels were less than 360 ng/dl in 22% of men in the PME group and 49% of men in the ED group. The PME group had a mean Total Testosterone (TT) value of 520, while the ED group had a mean TT of 406.ng/dl. These are all statistically significant. Hence it can be inferred that, even in young men, testosterone deficiency is not a rare cause, but a significant cause of ED.