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MONDAY, July 20, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Viagra<\/a>, the wonder drug for men suffering from impotence<\/a>, is not a cure for all sexual health<\/a> ills, a new study shows.<\/p>\n Since it hit the scene, men aren’t complaining about erectile dysfunction<\/a> or premature ejaculation<\/a> as much as low sexual desire and curvature of the penis<\/a>, a new Italian study finds.<\/p>\n “Over a 10-year period we have seen a real change in what concerns men when they attend sexual health<\/a> clinics,” said researcher Dr. Paolo Capogrosso, from the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.<\/p>\n “This is probably driven by greater openness, and men now accepting that many sexual problems can be treated, rather than being something they don’t want to talk about,” Capogrosso added.<\/p>\n The findings were scheduled for presentation at the European Association of Urology virtual meeting on Saturday. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n For the study, the researchers questioned more than 3,200 men seen at the San Raffaele Hospital Sexual Health Clinic between 2009 and 2019.<\/p>\n From 2009 to 2013, the number of men seen for erectile dysfunction<\/a> increased, then began decreasing.<\/p>\n Few men complained of low sex drive<\/a> or curvature of the penis<\/a> (Peyronie’s disease) in 2009, but complaints grew from 2009 on. By 2019, men were about 30% more likely to report Peyronie’s disease than in 2009, and around 32% more likely to report low sexual desire.<\/p>\n The number of men who complained of premature ejaculation<\/a> decreased by around 6% over 10 years and the average age when men first went to the clinic dropped from about 61 to 53 years of age, the findings showed.<\/p>\n “Erectile dysfunction<\/a> is still the main reason for attending the clinic, but this number is dropping, whereas around 35% of men attending the clinic now complain of Peyronie’s disease, and that number has shown steady growth,” Capogrosso said in a news release from the European Association of Urology. “Our patients are also getting younger, which may reflect a generational change in attitude to sexual problems.”<\/p>\n These changes don’t reflect a change in the prevalence of these conditions, he noted. “The changes probably also reflect the availability of treatments; as treatments for sexual conditions have become available over the last few years, men are less likely to suffer in silence,” Capogrosso suggested.<\/p>\n “In addition, we know that the awareness of this condition is increasing in the USA and elsewhere, so this may be a general trend,” Capogrosso said.<\/p>\n Dr. Mikkel Fode, an associate professor of urology at University of Copenhagen, said the findings suggest that men are becoming more aware of their sexual health.<\/p>\n “Although these data are somewhat preliminary, as they stem from [a] single institution, they are interesting because they allow us to formulate several hypotheses,” Fode said.<\/p>\n “For example, the drop in men presenting with erectile dysfunction<\/a> may mean that family physicians are becoming more comfortable addressing this issue and that the patients are never referred to specialized centers,” Fode said.<\/p>\n “Likewise, the simultaneous drop in age at presentation and increase in Peyronie’s disease and low sex drive<\/a> could indicate that both men and their partners are becoming more mindful to optimizing their sex lives,” he explained.<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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