¹Department of Psychiatry, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Correspondence: Dr JYW Cheng, Department of Psychiatry, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. E-mail: jackieyg@hku.hk

Received 24 July 2006; Revised 9 January 2007; Accepted 24 February 2007; Published online 31 May 2007.

Abstract

Alcohol is long regarded as a risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED), but epidemiological evidence has been equivocal. We aimed to investigate the ED risk associated with various levels of alcohol consumption by meta-analysis. We searched for population-based studies on ED through Medline, PubMed, PsychInfo, and scanned through reference lists. Eleven cross-sectional studies were included and analyzed with random effects model. We reviewed the results from one cross-sectional study and two cohort studies. Regular alcohol consumption was negatively associated with ED (odds ratio (OR)=0.79; 99% confidence interval (CI), 0.67–0.92; P<0.001). Consumption of 8 or more drinks/week significantly reduced the risk of ED (OR=0.85; 99% CI, 0.73–0.99; P=0.007), but consumption of less alcohol (1–7 drinks/week) was not significant (OR=0.73; 99% CI, 0.44, 1.20; P=0.101). Begg's test and Egger's test detected no significant publication bias. Our estimates (in sensitivity analyses) were rendered nonsignificant when International Index of Erectile Function definition was used and when statistical adjustment was made only for age. Meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies yielded a protective association of alcohol on ED, but the two cohort studies did not demonstrate any significant findings for alcohol consumption. More research is needed to confirm whether alcohol is protective or is unrelated to ED development.