While erectile dysfunction may have several causes, one of the most common physiological causes is due to vascular problems as the erectile tissues are large blood vessels themselves (corpora cavernosa and corpus spongiosum) and also require adequate blood flow to get the blood in there. One the most common causes of blood vessel disease is diabetes. While many see diabetes as a disease of “blood sugar”, diabetes ultimately is about the consequences of chronic high blood sugar as well as other metabolic dysfunctions around the inability to control blood sugar. As a result, there is no surprise that diabetes often means also erectile dysfunction. While this is usually associated with old men, a recent study published in Preventive Medicine found that a complaint of erectile dysfunction can mean an underlying diabetic problem in younger men.

Using electronic health data, the retrospective study of 1,915,468 patients from 2008 to 2022, the researchers wanted to investigated the risks of pre diabetes and type 2 diabetes amongst men the ages of 18 to 40 years old, with and without erectile dysfunction and time between a new erectile dysfunction diagnoses to the onset of being diagnosed with pre diabetes or type 2 diabetes.

Their analysis found that an erectile dysfunction patients had a 34% increased risk for pre diabetes or type 2 diabetes. Also, 75% of patients developed prediabetes or type 2 diabetes within a year of their erectile dysfunction diagnosis. 30% also received heir erectile dysfunction and diabetes on the same day.

While many men see erectile dysfunction as a problem in of itself, it really is more a canary in the coal mine issue because it signals something is wrong in the bigger picture of your health. Luckily diabetes is a very much a reversible condition, thus also the erectile dysfunction, utilizing lifestyle changes like plant-based diets, exercise, and stress reduction.

J Tucker et al. Erectile dysfunction associated with undiagnosed prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in young adult males: a retrospective cohort study. Preventive Medicine. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107646