Viagra consumption does more than improve the performance of men in bed – it can also help those with coronary heart disease live longer and have a lower risk of having a new heart attack, according to a new study.
“Potency problems are common in older men and now our study also shows that PDE5 inhibitors can protect against heart attack and prolong life,” said study lead author Martin Holzmann, an assistant professor of medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction, may be linked to impaired blood flow – and may be a sign of early warning of heart disease in healthy men, the authors said.
ED can be treated either locally with the injected drug alprostadil, which dilates blood vessels, or with drugs known as PDE5 inhibitors, which include small blue pills and Cialis, according to Health Day.
Holzmann’s team compared the effect of alprostadil and PDE5 inhibitors on 18,500 men who had already had a heart attack or underwent a procedure such as a bypass or angioplasty and were diagnosed with what is known as coronary artery disease. ” stable ”.
“The risk of a new heart attack is highest in the first six months (after such interventions), after which we consider that coronary heart disease is stable,” Holzmann wrote.
Subjects began taking a form of erectile dysfunction medication at least six months after a heart attack or heart procedure. About 16,500 men took Viagra, Cialis or another PDE5 drug, while the others took alprostadil.
The researchers tracked the health of men for an average of almost six years, during which time about 2,800 of them died.
Those taking a PDE5 drug had a 12% lower risk of dying during that monitoring than men who took alprostadil, the team reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Men taking PDE5 also had a lower risk of heart attack, heart failure or the need for an angioplasty or bypass procedure than those who received alprostadil, according to the report, which had no funding in the drug industry. .
Protection was dose-dependent, which means that the more frequently a man uses a PDE5 inhibitor, the lower the risk.
Holzmann warned that the study was not designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, saying there could be other factors.
“Those who received PDE5 inhibitors may be healthier than those treated with alprostadil and therefore had a lower risk [of heart issues]”He said as an example.
“To determine if the drug reduces the risk, we should randomly assign patients to two groups, one taking PDE5 and one not. The results we have now give us very good reasons to engage in such a study, “Holzmann added.
Two experts from the United States who were not connected to the study said the results were interesting, but stressed that more studies were needed.
PDE5 drugs “are ‘vasoactive,’ which means they have an effect on blood vessels, making them less rigid and able to vasodilate,” said Dr. Guy Mintz, director of cardiovascular health at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital. from Northwell Health in Manhasset, NY, said Health Day.
“These agents can also have anti-inflammatory effects,” he said
that “this is not a therapy for all patients with coronary heart disease – only those who also have impotence.”
He added: “Follow-up studies are needed to see if PDE5 inhibitors are directly responsible for the beneficial effects, or is the benefit of having a partner (not being alone), an active sex life (exercise), or a happier approach to life (a sense of well-being). ”
Dr. Michael Goyfman, who leads clinical cardiology at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, agreed that the Swedish findings are only useful for generating theories for the time being, not for changing medical practice.
He suggested that better outcomes for men taking a PDE5 were based on their basic health – perhaps only the sickest received alprostadil – or income, because the wealthiest could afford ED drugs.
“Although the study is interesting, the practice would not change until after randomized controlled clinical trials,” Goyfman said.