There’s a strong connection between Erectile Dysfunction and Coronary Heart Disease in men with Type 2 Diabetes – articulate the two interesting studies published in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The studies assert that erectile dysfunction in men with diabetes can be a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease.

First study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers asserted that those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as other men with diabetes to develop heart disease. The researchers said that the root cause of both can be blood vessel damage caused by high blood sugar levels. Involving 2,306 men with diabetes but no signs of heart disease, the Hong Kong study found that those with erectile dysfunction at the start were 58 percent more likely to have a heart attack or other major cardiac problem over the next four years than those with adequate sexual function.

Second study by Italian physicians, who followed 291 men who had diabetes and early coronary heart disease for four years, also found that those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as men without the problem to have major adverse events, including strokes.

Supporting the studies, Dr. E. Scott Monrad, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City stated that there’s a physical connection between male sexual failure and heart disease, involving the effect of diabetes on the nervous system and the blood vessels

Monrad said, "Neuropathy would interfere with the neurogenic responses feeding into proper erection, and obstruction of blood flow into the arteries reduces the pressure needed to achieve erection."

According to Dr. Robert A. Kloner, a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, who wrote an accompanying editorial on the reports, which were expected to be published in the May 27 issue of theJournal of the American College of Cardiology, it has been known that erectile dysfunction shares many risk factors with coronary heart disease, such as high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes. Kloner said, "What is new here is that erectile dysfunction remained a significant risk factor for developing heart disease after controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors.”