{"id":743726,"date":"2026-07-05T01:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/743726\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:09:09","slug":"erectile-dysfunction-can-be-a-warning-sign-of-a-serious-heart-issue-experts-warn-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/743726\/","title":{"rendered":"Erectile Dysfunction Can Be a Warning Sign of a Serious Heart Issue, Experts Warn : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erectile dysfunction is a topic many are reluctant<\/a> to discuss, but flagging the problem with a doctor could be important.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the condition may be an early sign of disease.<\/p>\n

The ability to get or maintain an erection requires a physical, psychological, neurological, hormonal, and vascular symphony, where one wrong note can lead to error.<\/p>\n

Dysfunction can occur for many reasons<\/a>, impacting young and old, but it becomes more common as a person ages<\/a>. Between 40 and 70, the prevalence of erectile dysfunction tips over 50 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But some surveys have found that almost 20 percent of those over 55 would not seek advice<\/a> from a healthcare professional for erectile dysfunction.<\/p>\n

That could be a serious mistake. <\/p>\n

“Erectile dysfunction is often a hint of underlying heart disease,” cardiologist Michael Joseph Blaha has said<\/a> in a review for Johns Hopkins Medicine.<\/p>\n

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Erectile dysfunction can also be an early sign of mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes<\/a>, and hormonal issues. What’s more, it is a highly common issue<\/a> in those with pancreatic cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Erectile dysfunction does not necessarily cause all these health conditions, but it is possibly an early outward sign of hidden hormonal, vascular, or metabolic issues.<\/p>\n

A recently published academic book<\/a>, from leading endocrinologists in Italy, aims to share more information on these associations for the wider public.<\/p>\n

Its title, The Canary in the Coal Mine: Erectile Dysfunction as the Best Biomarker of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases, sums up their main message about how erectile dysfunction may indicate other health problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was edited by sexologist Emmanuele Jannini at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and was published in partnership with the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine.<\/p>\n

Chapter two summarises the current available literature on erectile dysfunction as a specific harbinger of cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

For instance, a meta-analysis<\/a> of seven cohort studies found that erectile dysfunction was associated with a 1.4-fold higher risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those without the condition.<\/p>\n

In fact, a common treatment for erectile dysfunction, the vasodilating class of drugs to which Viagra<\/a> belongs, was originally proposed<\/a> for coronary artery disease.<\/p>\n

The drug’s benefits for erectile dysfunction were only discovered by accident<\/a>. Perhaps heart disease and erectile dysfunction share similar origins. After all, the function of both organs is heavily reliant on the body’s vascular system.<\/p>\n

The authors of The Canary in the Coal Mine note that both cardiovascular disease and erectile dysfunction share similar risk factors, such as smoking tobacco or a lack of exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Erectile dysfunction, however, often shows up years before cardiovascular issues.<\/p>\n

A similar trend exists for type 2 diabetes, as chapter three explains. <\/p>\n

Poor or very poor erections are an issue<\/a> for an estimated 50 percent or more of men with diabetes mellitus, possibly reflecting systemic vascular or metabolic dysfunction.<\/p>\n

What’s more, erectile dysfunction often precedes this metabolic disorder, suggesting that it may be a useful early symptom of insulin issues.<\/p>\n

In a review<\/a> published this year, another team of scientists in Spain explained that “erectile dysfunction may function not only as a complication of type 2 diabetes but also as an early clinical marker of cardiometabolic disease.”<\/p>\n

When someone with type 2 diabetes experiences erectile dysfunction, the review authors argue<\/a> it “should be regarded as a clinically relevant marker of systemic vascular disease.”<\/p>\n

They suggest that some of the shared mechanisms uniting the two conditions are oxidative stress, inflammation, autonomic neuropathy, and low hormone levels.<\/p>\n

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The authors of The Canary in the Coal Mine are thinking along the same lines. <\/p>\n

“The earlier identification of erectile dysfunction in men with type 2 diabetes, as well as the consideration of erectile dysfunction as an early marker of type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance, has the potential to improve the recognition and management of both conditions,” they conclude<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Erectile Dysfunction Drugs May Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s<\/a><\/p>\n

The associations are strong, but this idea remains speculative until high-quality, randomized controlled trials can confirm that erectile dysfunction is an early marker of disease.<\/p>\n

Emerging research is even starting to find links between erectile dysfunction and conditions of the gut.<\/p>\n

Men with irritable bowel syndrome, for instance, are more than twice as likely to develop erectile dysfunction, according to a small study<\/a> of 133 students.<\/p>\n

Inflammatory bowel disease is also linked to the condition.<\/p>\n

If erectile dysfunction turns out to be a reliable indicator of poor health, it’s possible that it could be better integrated into routine health screenings to give a heads-up to those most at risk.<\/p>\n

Mayo Clinic urologist Tobias K\u00f6hler was part of a panel that published consensus recommendations for clinicians<\/a> on erectile dysfunction in 2024. The panel argued<\/a> that this condition wasn’t just a “quality of life” issue but a cardiovascular issue.<\/p>\n

In a recent population study<\/a>, men with erectile dysfunction and known risk factors for cardiovascular disease who took Viagra-like drugs were linked to some incredible health outcomes.<\/p>\n

These include 25 percent reduction in all-cause mortality, a 39 percent reduction in cardiovascular death<\/a>, a 17 percent lower rate of heart failure<\/a>, and a 15 percent lower rate of revascularization<\/a> (a procedure to restore blood flow).<\/p>\n

That’s part of why K\u00f6hler personally encourages<\/a> all healthcare professionals to ask their patients: “Are you having any trouble with erections?”<\/p>\n

There’s no shame in being health-conscious.<\/p>\n

The book The Canary in the Coal Mine is freely available online here<\/a>. The March 2026 review was published in Frontiers in Clinical Diabetes and Healthcare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was fact-checked by Rachel Garner<\/a> and edited by Clare Watson<\/a>. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erectile dysfunction is a topic many are reluctant to discuss, but flagging the problem with a doctor could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,1352],"class_list":["post-743726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-msft-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}