Introduction

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has been associated to an overall lower general health status; in this context, systemic inflammation has been considered a potential pathophysiological link between ED and the overall male comorbidity status. We aimed to investigate the role of systemic inflammation by means of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in men with ED.

Methods

Complete demographic, clinical and laboratory data from 279 consecutive men with newly-diagnosed ED were analyzed. Health-significant comorbidities were scored with the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). A complete blood count was requested for every man and the NLR was calculated for every individual. Patients were invited to complete the IIEF questionnaire. Logistic regression models tested the odds (OR, 95%CI) of severe ED (defined as IIEF-EF < 11, according to Cappelleri's criteria) after adjusting for age, BMI, comorbidities (CCI>0), NLR, and cigarette smoking. Likewise, LNR values were also dichotomized according to the most informative cut-off predicting severe ED using the minimum p-value approach._x000D_

Results

Of all, 87/279 (31%) men had severe ED. Men with severe ED were older (median [IQR] age: 61 [47-67] vs. 49 [39-58] yrs) and showed higher rate of CCI≥1 [46 (53%) vs. 44 (23%) patients]. Thereof, NLR was dichotomized according to the most-informative cut-off (NLR>3); severe ED patients more frequently had NLR>3 as compared with all other ED patients [namely, 18 (21%) vs. 13 (7%)]. At multivariable logistic regression analysis, NLR>3.0 emerged as an independent predictor (OR [CI] 2.41 [1.06; 5.53] of severe ED, after accounting for patients' age, CCI score, cigarette smoking and BMI.

Conclusions

A NLR>3 increased the risk of having severe ED in our cohort, boosting the already existing evidence linking systemic inflammation to ED. Moreover, this easily obtainable index, can be clinically useful in better risk-stratifying patients with ED.

Funding

none