Prevalence and risk factors of erectile dysfunction in COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE: Studies have found that erectile dysfunction (ED) may be a short-term or long-term complication in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, but no relevant studies have completed a pooled analysis of this claim. The purpose of the review was to comprehensively search the relevant literature, summarize the prevalence of ED in COVID-19 patients, assess risk factors for its development, and explore the effect of the COVID-19 infection on erectile function. METHODS: Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was performed from database inception until April 14, 2022. Heterogeneity was analyzed by χ(2) tests and I(2) was used as a quantitative test of heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were used to analyze sources of heterogeneity. RESULTS: Our review included 8 studies, 4 of which functioned as a control group. There were 250,606 COVID-19 patients (mean age: 31–47.1 years, sample size: 23–246,990). The control group consisted of 10,844,200 individuals (mean age: 32.76–42.4 years, sample size 75–10,836,663). The prevalence of ED was 33% (95% CI 18–47%, I(2) = 99.48%) in COVID-19 patients. The prevalence of ED based on the international coding of diseases (ICD-10) was 9% (95% CI 2–19%), which was significantly lower than the prevalence of ED diagnosed based on the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) (46%, 95% CI 22–71%, I(2) = 96.72%). The pooling prevalence of ED was 50% (95% CI 34–67%, I(2) = 81.54%) for articles published in 2021, significantly higher than that for articles published in 2022 (17%, 95% CI 7–30%, I(2) = 99.55%). The relative risk of developing ED was 2.64 times in COVID-19 patients higher than in non-COVID-19 patients (RR: 2.64, 95% CI 1.01–6.88). The GRADE-pro score showed that the mean incidence of ED events in COVID-19 patients was 1,333/50,606 (2.6%) compared with 52,937/844,200 (0.4%) in controls; the absolute impact of COVID-19 on ED was 656/100,000 (ranging from 4/100,000 to 2352/100,000). Anxiety (OR: 1.13, 95% CI 1.03–1.26, I(2) = 0.0%) in COVID-19 patients was a risk factor for ED. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients have a high risk and prevalence of ED, mainly driven by anxiety. Attention should be paid to patient’s erectile functioning when treating COVID-19. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40618-022-01945-w.