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The canary in the coal mine. Comment on “Association between cardiometabolic index and erectile dysfunction among US adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2004”

International Journal of Impotence Research (2024)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 20 December 2023

The relation between erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is profound and bidirectional. On the one hand, ED shares many risk factors with cardiovascular (CV) and metabolic diseases, and on the other hand, ED itself is considered a risk factor for the development of major adverse cardiovascular events [1]. The new and interesting study by Zhang and colleagues adds another piece to the puzzle of this complex association that has noteworthy practical implications [2].

The study aimed to evaluate the association between the prevalence of ED and a recently proposed index for the prediction of cardiometabolic diseases in a large cross-sectional cohort from the US general population. The indicator in question, termed the “cardiometabolic index” (CMI), is a numeric value resulting from the multiplication of two factors, one associated with the lipid profile (triglycerides[TG]/high-density lipid-cholesterol[HDLc]) and one reflecting visceral obesity (waist-height ratio). After correction for several potential confounding factors, it was found that each unit increase in CMI was associated with a 49% increase in the risk of experiencing ED. The same association was confirmed when considering CMI as a categorical variable, revealing that the risk of ED was more than double for subjects with CMI levels in the upper tertile compared to those in the lower tertile.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Endocrinology and Medical Sexology (ENDOSEX), Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy

    Dimitri Yannas, Andrea Sansone & Emmanuele A. Jannini

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  1. Dimitri Yannas
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  2. Andrea Sansone
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  3. Emmanuele A. Jannini
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Contributions

DY: Conceptualization and writing (draft); AS: Conceptualization and writing (editing); EAJ: Conceptualization and writing (editing). All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Emmanuele A. Jannini.

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EAJ is or has been consultant and/or paid speaker for Bayer, Ibsa, Menarini, Otsuka, Pfizer, Shionogi, and Viatris. The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yannas, D., Sansone, A. & Jannini, E.A. The canary in the coal mine. Comment on “Association between cardiometabolic index and erectile dysfunction among US adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2004”. Int J Impot Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-024-00847-0

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