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The association between urinary organophosphate insecticide metabolites and erectile dysfunction in the United States

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 36, pages 226–231 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Organophosphate (OP) insecticides are the main chemicals used in agriculture for pest elimination, and they have been linked with many diseases. However, there is no literature regarding the impacts of organophosphate insecticide metabolite exposure on erectile dysfunction (ED). We aimed to evaluate the correlation between 4 urinary organophosphate insecticide metabolites and the presence of ED in a representative sample of men aged 20 and older. The dataset including a total of 555 subjects was obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004. ED was assessed by a question from a self-report questionnaire. Weighted proportions and multivariable logistic regression analysis were utilized to examine the relationship between organophosphate insecticide metabolite exposure and ED. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, diethylphosphate (DEP) was positively correlated with ED (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.01–1.14; P = 0.033) after full adjustment. Men in DEP tertile 4 had a significant 33% higher risk of ED than those in tertile 1. Furthermore, in a subgroup analysis, our results showed that higher DEP levels were significantly associated with ED in the young age group (20 ≤ age ≤ 39). Our study revealed a significant association between organophosphate insecticide metabolite exposure and an increased risk of ED. Moreover, the correlations were more evident in the young age group. The evaluation of urinary organophosphate insecticide metabolite exposure should be included in the risk assessment of ED. Further study to investigate the underlying mechanism, such as how long the urinary metabolite is present, whether ED is reversible in this population by lowering DEP concentrations, and how exposure to this metabolite affects erectile tissue, is warranted.

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Data availability

All data in the current study are public and available free of charge in the NHANES repository (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/).

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to the NHANES participants and staff members for their contribution to data collection and for making the data publicly available.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 81800667, 82270811), and the Project of Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (Grant nos. 22NSFSC1426).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Zerui Yang and Wei Wang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Zerui Yang

  2. Department of Urology, Institute of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Wei Wang, Lede Lin, Kaiwen Xiao, Liao Peng, Xiaoshuai Gao & Liang Zhou

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Contributions

Protocol/project development: ZRY and WW. Data collection or management: ZRY, WW, LDL, and KWX. Data analysis: ZRY, WW, LP, and XSG. Manuscript writing/editing: ZRY, WW, LDL, and XSG. Funding: LZ. Supervision: LZ.

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Correspondence to Liang Zhou.

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Yang, Z., Wang, W., Lin, L. et al. The association between urinary organophosphate insecticide metabolites and erectile dysfunction in the United States. Int J Impot Res 36, 226–231 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00655-4

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