Erectile Dysfunction, Testosterone Levels and Disease Activity in Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients

OBJECTIVE To study erectile function in male patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) trying to correlate it with sexual hormonal profile and disease activity. METHODS We included 35 AS patients and 104 controls. Patients and controls answered the IIEF (International Index of Erectile Dysfunction) and had dosing of total testosterone, free testosterone (FT), bioavailable testosterone (BT), SHBG (serum hormone binding globulin), albumin and LH (luteinizing hormone). AS patients had epidemiological, clinical and treatment data obtained from the charts. AS disease activity was measured simultaneously with blood collection through Bath AS Disease Activity Index, ASDAS (AS Disease Activity Score)-ESR (using erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and ASDAS-CRP (using C reactive protein). RESULTS The IIEF results were worse in AS patients than controls (P = .02). Total testosterone and SHBG were higher in AS (with P = .01 and P < .0001 respectively). Between the 2 groups, no differences in LH, FT, BT levels (all with P = ns) were found. In AS patients, the IIEF results did not correlate with total testosterone, SHBG, LH, FT, and BT but a negative association was found with Bath AS Disease Activity Index (P = .001) and ASDAS-CRP (P = .02). CONCLUSION AS patients had worst sexual performance than controls that was linked to disease activity but not to male sexual hormonal profile. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

The study found that male patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) had worse erectile function compared to controls, which was associated with disease activity rather than sexual hormonal profile.