Erectile dysfunction is a marker for cardiovascular complications and psychological functioning in men with hypertension

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of cardiovascular complications in hypertensive patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). An anonymous questionnaire was mailed to 467 and received from 104 hypertensive male patients. Despite the low response rate of 22%, the following interesting findings could be observed: 70.6% of the patients who responded suffered from ED. The hypertensive patients with ED had significantly higher prevalence of cardiovascular complications (P < 0.05). The correlation between depression and low quality of life as well as between ED and low sexual satisfaction was also statistically significant (P = 0.05). ED in hypertensive patients can be considered as a marker for cardiovascular complications in this patient group.