Relationship between lower urinary tract symptoms and erectile dysfunction in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aims: To assess lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and erectile dysfunction (ED), and to explore the relationships among LUTS, ED, and other factors in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: The cross sectional study was used with a structured questionnaire to collect data through interviews with 124 T2DM male patients and clinical data from an university hospital diabetes clinic from October 2010 to April 2012. LUTS were measured using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), ED using the five-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire (IIEF-5) or the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM), depression using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) from the clinical data.

Results: Of all men with T2DM, mean IPSS of LUTS was 9.2 ± 6.6. Concerning the reported severity of LUTS, 53.3% of the subjects were in the moderate and severe group. Mean IIEF-5 of ED was 7.3 ± 8.6 and in the reported severity of ED, mild, mild to moderate, moderate, and severe ED were 10.5%, 9.7%, 1.6%, and 66.9%, respectively. LUTS showed negative correlation with ED (r = - .26. p =.003) and positive correlation with depression (r =.33, p<.001). ED was negatively correlated with age (r =-.44, p <.001), duration of diabetes (r = -.26, p =.004), and depression (r = -.24, p =.008).

Conclusions: LUTS and ED were highly prevalent in men with T2DM. We identified that diabetic men with severer ED had the worse LUTS. The severe depression had the worse ED and the worse LUTS.