Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Association of urinary nerve growth factor levels with erectile function in young men with type 2 diabetes mellitus

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 29, pages 101–104 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

We investigated urine nerve growth factor (NGF) levels and erectile dysfunction in diabetic men <45 years of age. Urinary NGF levels were measured in 72 diabetic men and 20 control subjects without lower urinary tract symptoms or erectile dysfunction. Participants were evaluated using the International Prostate Symptom Score, quality of life index, Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS), the five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire (IIEF-5), the patient perception of bladder condition questionnaire, measurement of flow rate and post-void residual urine volume. The results showed that the diabetic men had significantly higher urinary normalized NGF/creatinine (Cr) levels compared to the healthy controls (0.48±1.2 vs 0.01±0.01, P=0.04). The increased urinary NGF/Cr levels correlated negatively with the IIEF-5 total score (P=0.03, coefficient=−0.26, −0.02 to −0.47). The 42 patients with urinary NGF/Cr levels <0.05 had higher IIEF-5 scores than the 30 patients with urinary NGF/Cr level ⩾0.05 (20.2±4.6 vs 16.9±6.7, P=0.03). We conclude that urinary NGF levels were associated with erectile dysfunction in the men with type 2 <45 years of age.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brown JS, Wessells H, Chancellor MB, Howards SS, Stamm WE, Stapleton AE et al. Urologic complications of diabetes. Diabetes Care 2005; 28: 177–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Malavige LS, Levy JC . Erectile dysfunction in diabetes mellitus. J Sex Med 2009; 6: 1232–1247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Deutsch S, Sherman L . Previously unrecognized diabetes mellitus in sexually impotent men. JAMA 1980; 244: 2430–2432.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Steers WD . Pathophysiology of overactive bladder and urge urinary incontinence. Rev Urol 2002; 4 (Suppl 4): S7–S18.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Kuo HC, Liu HT, Chancellor MB . Can urinary nerve growth factor be a biomarker for overactive bladder? Rev Urol 2010; 12: e69–e77.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Liu RT, Chung MS, Lee WC, Chang SW, Huang ST, Yang KD et al. Prevalence of overactive bladder and associated risk factors in 1359 patients with type 2 diabetes. Urology 2011; 78: 1040–1045.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Skyler JS, Bergenstal R, Bonow RO, Buse J, Deedwania P, Gale EA et alAmerican Diabetes Association; American College of Cardiology Foundation; American Heart Association. Intensive glycemic control and the prevention of cardiovascular events: implications of the ACCORD, ADVANCE, and VA Diabetes Trials: a position statement of the American Diabetes Association and a Scientific Statement of the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009; 53: 298–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shaw JW, Reardon G, Sandor DW, Rosen RC, Ferguson DM . Validation of stopwatch measurements of erection duration against responses to the sexual encounter profile and international index of erectile function in patients treated with a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor. J Sex Med 2010; 7: 1147–1159.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Homma Y, Yoshida M, Seki N, Yokoyama O, Kakizaki H, Gotoh M et al. Symptom assessment tool for overactive bladder syndrome—overactive bladder symptomscore. Urology 2006; 68: 318–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Coyne KS, Matza LS, Kopp Z, Abrams P . The validation of the patient perception of bladder condition (PPBC): a single-item global measure for patients with overactive bladder. Eur Urol 2006; 49: 1079–1086.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wang CC, Chancellor MB, Lin JM, Hsieh JH, Yu HJ . Type 2 diabetes but not metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of lower urinary tract symptoms and erectile dysfunction in men aged &lt;45 years. BJU Int 2010; 105: 1136–1140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Daneshgari F, Liu G, Birder L, Hanna-Mitchell AT, Chacko S . Diabetic bladder dysfunction: current translational knowledge. J Urol 2009; 182 (6 Suppl): S18–S26.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Davies KP, Melman A . Markers of erectile dysfunction. Indian J Urol 2008; 24: 320–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hsieh PS, Bochinski DJ, Lin GT, Nunes L, Lin CS, Lue TF . The effect of vascular endothelial growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor on cavernosal nerve regeneration in a nerve-crush rat model. BJU Int 2003; 92: 470–475.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Jung JH, Jae SU, Kam SC, Hyun JS . Correlation between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and sexual function in benign prostatic hyperplasia: impact of treatment of LUTS on sexual function. J Sex Med 2009; 6: 2299–2304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Wong SY, Leung JC, Woo J . Sexual activity, erectile dysfunction and their correlates among 1,566 older Chinese men in Southern China. J Sex Med 2009; 6: 74–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Kuei-Ying Huang and Xin-Yi Yu for help with data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, En Chu Kong Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-C Wang

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li, Taiwan

    C-C Wang

  3. Department of Urology, Cardinal Tien Hospital and School of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-H Liao

  4. Department of Urology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan

    H-T Liu & H-C Kuo

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, En Chu Kong Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    J-M Lin

Authors
  1. C-C Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C-H Liao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H-T Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J-M Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. H-C Kuo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H-C Kuo.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, CC., Liao, CH., Liu, HT. et al. Association of urinary nerve growth factor levels with erectile function in young men with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Int J Impot Res 29, 101–104 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2017.2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2017.2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links