Researchers Find Link Between Eczema and Erectile Dysfunction
Men who have been diagnosed with eczema are potentially at a greater risk of erectile dysfunction than men who don’t have it, according to a recently released Taiwanese study.
Researchers looked through insurance claims of approximately 4,000 men with newly diagnosed erectile dysfunction (ED) and compared them to the claims of nearly 20,000 men of the same age with no known history of ED. They found nearly 11 percent of men with ED had eczema prior to receiving the diagnosis of impotence. Just seven percent of men without ED had a history of eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis.
“There was an association between ED and prior atopic dermatitis,” explained Shiu-Dong Chung, researcher of the study and professor at Taipei Medical University. “Future studies are recommended, both to replicate the results seen here and to clarify the mechanisms behind them.”
Chung also examined other factors of ED such as diabetes and heart disease, and found that men with erectile dysfunction were 60 percent more likely to have a history of eczema than men without ED.