Erectile dysfunction and associated factors among men with diabetes mellitus from a tertiary diabetic center in Northern Sri Lanka

OBJECTIVE: Prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in diabetic men is considerably high but it is often underdiagnosed and undermanaged. There were no data available about the prevalence and the risk factors of ED in our region. So a cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the prevalence and associated risk factors of ED in a tertiary care diabetic center in Northern Sri Lanka. RESULTS: 326 diabetic male patients between ages 18–60 years were interviewed. Majority (62.9%; 95% CI 57.5–68.0%) of the diabetic patients suffered from ED and 22.4% (95% CI 17.8–26.8%) were found to have severe ED. Most of the patients (98.8%) were not screened or treated for ED. Bivariate analysis showed age above 40, duration of DM (> 5 years), type of diabetes (type 2), having micro-vascular complications, co-existing hypertension, BMI, consuming unsafe level of alcohol and taking beta-blockers were associated with ED at 5% level (P < 0.05). This study failed to show association with dyslipidemia, macro vascular complications such as coronary artery disease (CAD, P-0.052), glycemic control (P-0.082) and smoking. Regression analysis revealed age > 40 (AOR: 2.13; 95% CI 1.05–4.33), duration of diabetes (AOR: 2.90; 95% CI 1.67–5.01), co-existing hypertension (AOR: 1.8; 95% CI 1.06–3.06), and unsafe level alcohol intake (AOR: 3.14; 95% CI 1.76–5.59) were independent risk factors. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4244-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.