It has been reported that the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) is significantly higher in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), compared with patients without OSA. However, there is limited evidence on whether surgical treatments in patients with OSA could decrease ED risk.
To assess the impact of surgical treatments for OSA on the risk of ED by analysis of claims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between 1997 and 2012.
We identified 20675 male adults with newly diagnosed OSA during the study period; 16040 patients ever received surgical treatments (treated cohort) and 4635 patients never received surgical treatments (untreated cohort). According to 3:1 propensity score matching, we analyzed 8337 patients in the treated cohort and 2779 controls in the untreated cohort. We estimated the incidence rates (IRs) and hazard ratios (HRs) of incident ED in both cohorts through the end of 2012.
In a total study follow-up of 64916 person-years, 396 (3.6%) patients developed impotence. The IRs of ED for the treated and untreated cohorts, respectively, were 55.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 55.6-55.9) and 76.1 (95% CI, 76.0-76.3) per 1000 person-years. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that surgical treatments for OSA patients were associated with a lower risk for ED (adjusted HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.98). Multivariate stratified analysis further verified that significant risk reduction of ED was present in OSA patients without hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, obesity, chronic kidney disease, and chronic liver disease.
We found that OSA patients who received surgical treatments were associated with lower risk for developing ED by 21%. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Andrology. 2021 Nov 08 [Epub ahead of print]
Juen-Haur Hwang, Hueih-Ling Ong, Yi-Chun Chen
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi, Taiwan., School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.