Men using E-cigarettes to quit smoking may be risking their sex life.
Men who use Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, commonly referred to as e-cigarettes, may be at a high risk of developing erectile dysfunction, a new study found. The study, led by Dr Omar El Shahawy, from the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone, in the USA, was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study found that men between 20 and 65 years of age with no prior history of heart disease, who used e-cigarettes where 2.4 times more likely to report erectile dysfunction, compared to men who have never used e-cigarettes.
“Given that many people use e-cigarettes as a form of smoking harm reduction or to help them with smoking cessation, we need to fully investigate the relationship between vaping products and erectile dysfunction, and potential implications for men’s sexual health. Our findings underscore the need to conduct further studies to contextualise the e-cigarette use pattern that is relatively safer than smoking.” Dr El Shahawy said.
“Our analyses accounted for cigarette smoking history of participants including those who were never cigarette smokers to begin with, so it is possible that daily e-cigarette vaping may be associated with higher odds of erectile dysfunction regardless of one’s smoking history,” he added.
About the study
Researchers used data from 11,207 males between 20 and 65 years of age, with no prior history of heart disease and who were part of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. Respondents were classified as never, former and smokers and nearly half of the participants were former cigarette smokers, 21% were current cigarette smokers, and 14% used other tobacco products.
Compared to those who never used e-cigarettes, daily users were more than two times more likely to report having erectile dysfunction. Researchers also found a significant association between e-cigarette use and erectile dysfunction among respondents with normal Body Mass Index and without heart disease. This observation suggests the association between erectile dysfunction and e-cigarettes also applies to healthy populations.
According to Dr El Shahawy, their next step is to pursue research to better understand if certain types of e-cigarettes have a stronger association with erectile dysfunction, compared to others. Also, whether reported erectile dysfunction is reversible after quitting e-cigarettes.
Future research also aims to investigate the potential association between e-cigarettes use and sexual dysfunction in women.