ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION IN MEN WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE: A PREVALENCE META-ANALYSIS AND META-REGRESSION STUDY

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Among non-motor symptoms of PD, erectile dysfunction (ED), is one of the least studied, with an under-reported prevalence, probably due to the reluctance of patients to disclose and the paucity of items assessing sexual function in the most used questionnaires about health-related quality of life PD’s patients. We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of available studies to define pooled prevalence estimate and correlates of ED in men with PD.

A thorough search of MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science databases was carried out to identify suitable studies. Quality of the articles was scored using the Assessment Tool for Prevalence Studies. Data were combined using random effects models and the between-study heterogeneity was assessed by the Cochrane’s Q and I².

The eighteen studies included gave information about 4847 men with PD. The pooled prevalence of ED was 47% (95%CI: 36-59%), with a large heterogeneity (I² = 98.1%, p < 0.0001). Meta-regression analyses were carried out to find out covariates that could affect the prevalence estimate. No significant relationship with ED was found for age (S = -0.005 (95%CI: -0.025, 0.014); p = 0.59), age at diagnosis (S = -0.008 (95%CI: -0.028, 0.011); p = 0.40), PD duration (S = 0.022 (-0.018, 0.062); p = 0.28) and progression (S = 0.26 (-0.37, 0.89); p = 0.42), as assessed by the Hoehn & Yahr scale. To investigate whether Parkinson’s disease per se was associated with a significant increased risk of ED, we restricted the analysis to case–control studies only (4 studies): comparing men with PD with healthy controls emerged an increased ED’s risk of 31% (95%CI: -41, 104%), with a large heterogeneity (I² = 99%, p < 0.0001), but without statistical significance (p = 0.39), as residual risk compared to controls.

Although the overall rate of ED in people with PD was 47%, with no significant relationship with patient’s age, age at diagnosis, PD duration and progression, this was not statistically significantly higher, when compared with age-matched controls.

No conflict of interest.