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Metabolic syndrome and risk for ED: a meta-analysis

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 26, pages 196–200 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

There are many recent observational studies on metabolic syndrome (MS) and the risk for ED, and it is still inconclusive whether MS increases the risk for ED. This meta-analysis aims to detect a relationship between MS and ED. We identified eligible studies by searching PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library for articles published before August 2013. Adjusted relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using random-effects or fixed-effects models. A total of 10 studies involving 4092 participants were included in the meta-analysis. MS was associated with an increased incidence of ED (RR=1.60, 95% CI=1.27–2.02, P<0.001), with significant evidence of heterogeneity among these studies (P for heterogeneity <0.001, I2=92.9%). The subgroup and sensitivity analyses confirmed the stability of the results and no publication bias was detected. The present meta-analysis suggests that MS is significantly associated with the risk for ED. Large-scale and well-designed prospective studies are required to further investigate the association between MS and risk for ED.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor An-Yang Wei for his excellent technical support. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81170566) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (S2012010009091).

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Author notes

  1. L H Liu and T Zhang: These authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Medical Center for Overseas Patients, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    L H Liu, T Zhang, H B Zhang, F Z Chen & A Y Wei

  2. Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    Y R Zhang

  3. Department of Thoracic and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    T S Liu

  4. The Department of Urology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    S H He

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  1. L H Liu
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Correspondence to S H He or A Y Wei.

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Liu, L., Zhang, T., Zhang, Y. et al. Metabolic syndrome and risk for ED: a meta-analysis. Int J Impot Res 26, 196–200 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2014.3

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