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. 2018 Aug 8;13(8):e0201930.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201930. eCollection 2018.

Erectile dysfunction in obstructive sleep apnea patients: A randomized trial on the effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Mercè Pascual  1   2 , Jordi de Batlle  2   3 , Ferran Barbé  2   3 , Anabel L Castro-Grattoni  2 , Josep M Auguet  1 , Lydia Pascual  2 , Manel Vilà  2 , Anunciación Cortijo  2 , Manuel Sánchez-de-la-Torre  2   3
Affiliations

Erectile dysfunction in obstructive sleep apnea patients: A randomized trial on the effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Mercè Pascual et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is among the least studied risk factors for erectile dysfunction (ED). We aimed to determine ED prevalence in newly-diagnosed OSA patients, describe their main characteristics and assess continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) effects on ED.

Methods: Cross-sectional study assessing ED prevalence in OSA patients and open-label, parallel, prospective randomized controlled trial evaluating 3-month CPAP treatment effects on sexual function, satisfaction, and psychological, hormonal and biochemical profiles. Male patients newly diagnosed with moderate/severe OSA (apnea-hypopnea index >20 events·h-1), aged 18-70 years, attending the sleep unit of a Spanish hospital during 2013-2016 were considered. A total of 150 patients were recruited (75 randomized ED patients). ED was defined as scores <25 on International Index Erectile Function 15 test. Wilcoxon's matched-pairs signed-ranks and rank-sum tests were used.

Results: ED prevalence was 51%. Patients with ED were older (p<0.001), had greater waist-to-hip ratios (p<0.001), were more frequently undergoing pharmacological treatment (p<0.001) and had higher glucose levels (p = 0.024) than non-ED patients. Although significant increases in erectile function (mean(SD) change: +4.6(7.9); p = 0.002), overall satisfaction (+1(2.2); p = 0.035), and sexual satisfaction (+2.1(4.3); p = 0.003) were found after CPAP treatment, only differences in sexual satisfaction (p = 0.027) and erectile function (p = 0.060) were found between study arms. CPAP treatment did not impact psychological, hormonal or biochemical profiles.

Conclusions: This study confirmed the relationship between OSA and ED, suggesting the potential usefulness of ED screening in OSA patients, but could not determine conclusively whether CPAP is an effective stand-alone ED treatment, regardless of positive results on sexual satisfaction.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03086122.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Study flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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