Relationship between Erectile Dysfunction, Comorbidity, and Parkinson's Disease: Evidence from a Population-Based Longitudinal Study

Background and Purpose To determine the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in relation to erectile dysfunction (ED) based on the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Methods We identified 3,153 patients who were newly diagnosed with ED between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2010. A total of 12,612 randomly selected people without ED served as healthy controls. All of the study subjects were followed-up from the index date to the date of PD diagnosis, withdrawal from the National Health Insurance program, or the end of 2012 whichever occurred first. Results The incidence density rate of PD was 1.52-fold higher in the ED cohort than the non-ED cohort (3.44 vs. 1.64 per 1,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.52 [95% confidence interval (CI)=1.09-2.12]. The combined effects on patients with ED and diabetes as well as hypertension showed a significant combined association with the PD risk compared with patients without ED, counterpart comorbidities, or medication use. The adjusted HR of PD for ED was higher for diabetes (2.82, 95% CI=1.42-5.63) and hypertension (2.19, 95% CI = 1.35-3.55). Conclusions ED leads to an increased risk of PD. ED patients with diabetes or hypertension have an elevated risk of PD.