Erectile dysfunction linked to heart attack

London (PTI): Erectile dysfunction may hold early clue of a heart attack, warns an expert, who expressed concern that the risk was being ignored by doctors uncomfortable with the word 'erection'.

The warning by Geoffrey Hackett on the British Medical Journal Website suggested that erectile dysfunction gives a two to three year early clue of a heart attack.

However, the link between erectile dysfunction and the risk of heart disease is being ignored by doctors, writes Hackett from the Birmingham-based Good Hope Hospital in the UK.

Despite considerable evidence, erectile dysfunction is still treated as a recreational or "lifestyle issue" rather than a predictor of a serious health problem, says Hackett.

"Continuing to ignore these issues on the basis that cardiologists feel uncomfortable mentioning the word 'erection' to their patients or that they may have to deal with the management of a positive response, is no longer acceptable and possibly, based on current evidence, clinically negligent," Hackett stressed.

Hackett reports regularly seeing patients referred with erectile dysfunction after a heart attack, only to hear that they had developed erectile dysfunction two to three years before a warning sign ignored by their general practitioners.

It is well-known that erectile dysfunction (a symptom of vascular disease in the smaller arteries) doubles the risk of heart disease, a risk equivalent to being a moderate smoker or having an immediate family history of heart disease, the Science Daily online reported.

According to the report, erectile dysfunction in type 2 diabetes has been shown to be a better predictor of the risk of heart disease than high blood pressure or high cholesterol.