The Association between Erection Hardness Grading Scale and International Index of Erectile Function in Men with Erectile Dysfunction Treated with Sildenafil Citrate

Introduction: To evaluate the association between the first 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) and Erection Hardness Grading Scale (EHGS) scores in patients who received sildenafil citrate treatment due to erectile dysfunction (ED). Patients and Methods: A total of 81 men with ED lasting for 6 months or longer were included in this study. Mean age was 51 years (range 21-75). All patients were given 50 mg sildenafil citrate (Viagra (R)) 4 times a week during an 8-week period and they were asked to attempt sexual intercourse when they used the drug. Results: The mean pretreatment IIEF-5 and EHGS scores were 6.7 +/- 2.5 and 1.7 +/- 0.5, respectively. These values were 15.3 +/- 5.1 and 2.8 +/- 0.6 after the treatment, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in all scores between before and after treatment for IIEF-5 and EHGS scores (p < 0.001). We found a very strong association between IIEF-5 and EHGS scores in the pretreatment period (gamma = 0.916, p < 0.001). However, there was a fair agreement between IIEF-5 and EHGS scores (kappa coefficient: 0.375). Conclusions: Our experience showed that there was no significant agreement between the IIEF-5 and EHGS scores in patients treated with sildenafil citrate. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel