Published online Sep 26, 2014. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v6.i9.908
Revised: June 24, 2014
Accepted: July 15, 2014
Published online: September 26, 2014
Processing time: 200 Days and 12.4 Hours
Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and affects approximately one third of the adult population worldwide. The vascular origin of erectile dysfunction is now widely accepted in the vast majority of cases. Erectile dysfunction is frequently encountered in patients with arterial hypertension and greatly affects their quality of life of hypertensive patients and their sexual partners. Therefore, the management of erectile dysfunction in hypertensive patients is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, erectile dysfunction remains under-reported, under-recognized, and under-treated in hypertensive patients, mainly due to the lack of familiarity with this clinical entity by treating physicians. This review aims to discuss the more frequent problems in the management of hypertensive patients with erectile dysfunction and propose ways to overcome these problems in everyday clinical practice.
Core tip: The prevalence of erectile dysfunction is approximately 2-fold higher in hypertensive patients compared to normotensive individuals. However, erectile dysfunction remains under-reported, under-recognized, and under-treated in hypertensive patients. Lifestyle modification should be the mainstay of treating erectile dysfunction in patients with untreated hypertension. Switching antihypertensive therapy should be considered in treated hypertensive patients, unless administered drugs are absolutely indicated for the individual patient. Otherwise, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors should be used, since they are both effective and safe in hypertensive patients. Finally, erectile dysfunction offers the opportunity to recognize asymptomatic cardiovascular disease with obvious benefits for cardiovascular event prevention.