Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jul 15, 2021; 12(7): 954-974
Published online Jul 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i7.954
Ejaculatory dysfunction in men with diabetes mellitus
Taymour Mostafa, Ibrahim A Abdel-Hamid
Taymour Mostafa, Department of Andrology & Sexology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Ibrahim A Abdel-Hamid, Department of Andrology, Mansoura Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Author contributions: Mostafa T and Abdel-Hamid IA contributed equally to this work in all its aspects.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Taymour Mostafa, PhD, Professor, Department of Andrology & Sexology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt. taymour1155@link.net
Received: January 30, 2021
Peer-review started: January 30, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 6, 2021
Accepted: June 15, 2021
Article in press: June 15, 2021
Published online: July 15, 2021
Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by elevated blood glucose levels due to absolute or relative insulin deficiency, in the background of β-cell dysfunction, insulin resistance, or both. Such chronic hyperglycemia is linked to long-term damage to blood vessels, nerves, and various organs. Currently, the worldwide burden of DM and its complications is in increase. Male sexual dysfunction is one of the famous complications of DM, including abnormal orgasmic/ejaculatory functions, desire/libido, and erection. Ejaculatory dysfunction encompasses several disorders related to DM and its complications, such as premature ejaculation, anejaculation (AE), delayed ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation (RE), ejaculatory pain, anesthetic ejaculation, decreased ejaculate volume, and decreased force of ejaculation. The problems linked to ejaculatory dysfunction may extend beyond the poor quality of life in diabetics as both AE and RE are alleged to alter the fertility potential of these patients. However, although both diabetes patients and their physicians are increasingly aware of diabetic ejaculatory dysfunction, this awareness still lags behind that of other diabetes complications. Therefore, all these disorders should be looked for thoroughly during the clinical evaluation of diabetic men. Besides, introducing the suitable option and/or maneuvers to treat these disorders should be tailored according to each case. This review aimed to explore the most important findings regarding ejaculatory dysfunction in diabetes from pre-clinical and clinical perspectives.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Ejaculation, Anejaculation, Retrograde ejaculation, Semen

Core Tip: Male sexual dysfunction is a famous complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), including abnormal orgasmic/ejaculatory function, desire/libido, and erection. DM-related ejaculatory dysfunction encompasses several disorders such as premature ejaculation, anejaculation (AE), delayed ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation (RE), ejaculatory pain, anesthetic ejaculation, decreased ejaculate volume, and decreased force of ejaculation. The problems linked to ejaculatory dysfunction may lead to poor quality of life as both AE and RE are alleged to alter their fertility potential. All these disorders should be looked for thoroughly during the clinical evaluation of diabetic men.