Significance of penile hypersensitivity in premature ejaculation

To assess the correlation between penile hypersensitivity and premature ejaculation (PE), a total of 420 consecutive subjects attending our andrologic clinic for suspected PE were enrolled. The entire cohort was asked to complete the self-report intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) by stopwatch. According to the IELT, the subjects were classified into 3 groups. Vibratory thresholds were recorded at the glans penis and penile shaft using a biothesiometer. We found that vibratory thresholds in the glans penis and penile shaft were significantly lower in both mild and severe PE group than in the control group (3.81 ± 0.57 and 3.54 ± 0.43 vs 4.73 ± 0.77 for glans penis p = 0.000; 3.64 ± 0.52 and 3.37 ± 0.50 vs 4.62 ± 0.69 for penile shaft p = 0.002). The vibratory threshold decreased as the disease aggravated. In the mild and severe PE groups, a significant positive correlation was detected between the mean values of IELT and the vibratory thresholds. Furthermore, in the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis, the area under the curve of the glans penis and penile shaft vibratory thresholds predicting severe PE were 0.852 and 0.893 respectively. Our study established a dose-dependent association between penile vibratory threshold and PE. Therefore, the vibratory threshold can serve as a potential marker for predicting the severity of PE.