How important is maintaining satisfactory sexual function in your life? Chances are, it\u2019s fairly high on your list. Yet men with erectile dysfunction and serious illness are less likely to get treatment for their sexual challenges, even though healthy sexual activity is a significant part of the quality of life.<\/p>\n
Why do some seriously ill men tend to ignore their sexual health? A team of researchers from the University Medical Center in Maribor, Slovenia, wanted to find out. They published their findings in the International Journal of Impotence Research<\/em>.<\/p>\n Only about 10 percent of men who have erectile function challenges are treated. It appears an even lower percentage of men are treated if they also are living with a chronic or serious illness.<\/p>\n According to the study\u2019s lead author, Dr. Dejan Bratus, he and his colleague were surprised at \u201cthe attitude of health professionals toward the sexual problems of their patients as it seems that a large proportion of doctors are unwilling to discuss these problems with their patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though erectile dysfunction is being talked about more than it was a decade ago, there is still a reluctance on the part of some doctors and patients to address the matter.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n A total of 500 men who were visiting their family physician were surveyed for the study. Only two questions appeared on the survey:<\/p>\n The men were divided into three groups:<\/p>\n The men differed in how important they thought sex was to their well-being:<\/p>\n In response to the second question, the results were similar: nearly 90 percent of healthy and mildly healthy men said they would seek treatment for erectile dysfunction, but just 70 percent of the seriously ill men said they would.<\/p>\n One reason why men with erectile dysfunction and serious illness are not receiving treatment for their sexual issues is a lack of communication between the patient and his healthcare provider, according to Kathryn Flynn, of the Medical College of Wisconsin. Flynn has been involved in a number of studies that have used the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System\u00ae Sexual Function and Satisfaction measures, or PROMIS\u00ae SexFS. It has been used to measure sexual function and satisfaction among men with prostate cancer. She was not a part of the study reported here.<\/p>\n Flynn noted that although there are many ED treatments available, patients are not receiving them. The disconnect between doctors and men with erectile dysfunction and serious illness needs to be remedied. As Bratus explained, \u201cOur message to men who suffer from erectile dysfunction is that this is just a disease like any other,\u201d and that \u201cwe strongly advise them to talk about it with their doctors\u201d so they can access treatment and improve their sex lives and thus their quality of life.<\/p>\n Bratus D, Bratus T. Men with serious chronic illnesses and malignancies are less likely to seek treatment for erectile dysfunction. International Journal of Impotence Research<\/a><\/em> 2019 Apr 11<\/p>\n Crist C. Men with serious illness may not seek erectile dysfunction treatment. Health News Reuters<\/a><\/em> 2019 May 2<\/p>\n Flynn KE et al. Development of the NIH PROMIS\u00ae Sexual Function and Satisfaction measures in patients with cancer. Journal of Sexual Medicine<\/a><\/em> 2013 Feb; 10 Supp 1:43-52<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How important is maintaining satisfactory sexual function in your life? Chances are, it\u2019s fairly high on your list. Yet men with erectile dysfunction and serious … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/red64.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Erectile dysfunction and serious illness<\/h2>\n
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Treating erectile dysfunction in men with serious illness<\/h2>\n
References<\/h3>\n