Given that Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) is used by people as a form of smoking harm reduction or to help them with smoking cessation, investigating the relationship between E-cigarettes and erectile dysfunction, and their potential implications for men’s sexual health is needed.

New Finding

Researchers used data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a nationally representative study of 45,971 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older, examining various tobacco use behaviors and health outcomes.

Later, they surveyed nearly 14,000 men over the age of 20 with no prior cardiovascular disease (CVD) diagnosis, while adjusting for multiple risk factors.

Almost half of the participants were former cigarette smokers, 21 percent were current cigarette smokers, and 14 percent used other tobacco products.

In total, 10 percent of all men in the sample reported experiencing erectile dysfunction. This finding shows that compared to those who never used E-cigarettes, daily users had a 2.4 times higher chance of erectile dysfunction.

There was a significant association between E-cigarette use and erectile dysfunction among respondents aged 20 to 65 with average body mass index and without CVD, suggesting an association even among a relatively healthy population.

Link Between Nicotine and Erectile dysfunction

Though the study did not prove the link, researchers believe that a high level nicotine in E-cigarette reduces blood flow to the penis and may impact the ability to get an erection.

Even some E-cigarettes without nicotine contain chemicals that may reduce the amount of testosterone circulating in the body.

The only difference in nicotine action between traditional cigarettes and E-cigarette is the duration of the effect. In E-cigarettes, there will be no long-term damage to erections.

Whereas in tobacco smokers, the chemicals inhaled will also cause long-term damage to the blood vessels causing long-term worsening of the erections on top of the short-term effects of nicotine.

Based on these findings, clinicians should warn men about the potential impact of E-cigarette on sex life before starting.

Men should also contact their health professionals if they suffer from erectile dysfunction as it could be a warning sign of cardiovascular disease.

Limitations

The limitation of this study is that the analyses were based on self-reported data, which are subjected to misclassification and bias. There were also no data indicating whether or not the participants were taking any medications for ED.

The next phase of the study will be to understand if certain types of ENDS have a stronger association with ED than others, and whether reported ED could be reversible with discontinuing their use.

Future studies should also investigate the association between ENDS use and sexual dysfunction among women.

E-cigarette Future

Despite a torrent of evidence on the health risks of E-cigarette and the World Health Organization saying last year that the devices are ‘undoubtedly harmful,’ the medical regulator is yet to pave the way for it.

This means E-cigarettes could be licensed as a medical product and prescribed by doctors on a case basis to people who want to quit traditional cigarettes in the future.

Though E-cigarette is less dangerous than traditional tobacco, the healthy choice will be to definitively quit smoking.

References:

1. People smoke for nicotine, but lose sexual and reproductive health for tar: a narrative review on the effect of cigarette smoking on male sexuality and reproduction
   – (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32323225/)
2. Association of E-Cigarettes With Erectile Dysfunction: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study
   – (https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(21)00429-3/fulltext)
3. E-Cigarette-Associated Endothelial Damage: A Potential Mechanism for Erectile Dysfunction
   – (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2050052121000044)

Source: Medindia