Genetically predicted cardiovascular diseases could increase the risk of erectile dysfunction: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization

Abstract

Purpose: Erectile dysfunction (ED) often appears concomitantly with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the causal relationship between ED and CVDs is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the causal effects between CVDs and ED using bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR).

Methods: ED data (6175 cases and 217,630 controls) were obtained from the IEU OpenGWAS project. Seven types of CVDs were acquired in our study, including stroke (Sample size = 440,328), myocardial infection (Sample size = 184,305), coronary heart disease (Sample size = 86,995), hypertension (Sample size = 36,683), heart failure (Sample size = 208,178), atrial fibrillation (Sample size = 1,030,836), and coronary artery disease (Sample size = 141,217). Inverse variance weighted (IVW) was selected as the primary method for MR analysis.

Results: IVW results indicated that stroke (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.02-1.29, P = 0.025), coronary artery disease (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.02-1.16, P = 0.013), coronary heart disease (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.01-1.13, P = 0.017), myocardial infection (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.02-1.17, P = 0.011), and atrial fibrillation (OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.00-1.12, P = 0.04) were causally associated with ED. The reverse MR analysis suggested that ED did not influence the prevalence of CVDs.

Conclusion: These findings highlighted CVDs as causal risk factors for ED, but ED did not directly result in the development of CVDs. Regular monitoring of the erectile function of individuals with CVDs, along with implementing appropriate preventive measures, might help reduce the incidence of ED and enhance the sexual well-being of patients with CVDs.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Causal association; Erectile dysfunction; Mendelian randomization.