Erectile Dysfunction After Surgical Treatment of Lung Cancer: Real-World Evidence

Ming-Szu Hung; Yi-Chuan Chen; Tsung-Yu Huang; Dong-Ru Ho; Chuan-Pin Lee; Pau-Chung Chen; Yao-Hsu Yang

doi:10.2147/CLEP.S264439

Erectile Dysfunction After Surgical Treatment of Lung Cancer: Real-World Evidence

Clin Epidemiol. 2020 Sep 11:12:977-987. doi: 10.2147/CLEP.S264439. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Ming-Szu Hung^{1

2

3}, Yi-Chuan Chen^{2

4}, Tsung-Yu Huang^{5

6

7}, Dong-Ru Ho^{6

8

9}, Chuan-Pin Lee¹⁰, Pau-Chung Chen^{11

12}, Yao-Hsu Yang^{10

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan.
² Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Respiratory Care, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁵ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁷ Shu-Zen Junior College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁸ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi, Taiwan.
¹⁰ Health Information and Epidemiology Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
¹¹ Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹² Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University, College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹³ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan.
¹⁴ School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Sexual problems are common in male lung cancer survivors. However, the development of erectile dysfunction (ED) in lung cancer patients after surgery has been rarely explored. In this study, we aimed to explore the incidence and risk factors of ED after lung cancer surgery.

Methods: From 2000 to 2012, 6025 and 24,100 male patients were included in each matched cohort of lung cancer and non-lung cancer patients, respectively. Poisson regression analysis was used to calculate the incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: The incidence of ED was higher in the lung cancer cohort compared to the non-lung cancer cohort (38.47 vs 28.28 per 10,000 person-years) with an adjusted IRR (aIRR) of 1.34 (95% CI: 1.06-1.70, p=0.014) after the confounders were adjusted for. An increased incidence of ED was observed in the lung cancer cohort aged 40-54 years (aIRR: 5.44, 95% CI: 2.25-13.15, p<0.001), 55-64 years (aIRR: 3.62, 95% CI: 1.61-8.17, p=0.002) years, and anxiety (aIRR: 2.99, 95% CI: 1.81-4.94, p<0.001). In addition, a higher incidence of emergency room (ER) visits (aIRR: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.98-2.42, p<0.001) was observed in lung cancer patients with ED compared to those without ED.

Conclusion: Our study results suggested that early surveillance and intervention of ED should be advocated in lung cancer patients after surgery.

Keywords: erectile dysfunction; lung cancer; surgery.