Using Viagra does more than improve men’s performance in bed – it can also help those with coronary arteries live longer and have a lower risk of having a new heart attack, according to a new study.
“Power problems are common in older men and now our study also shows that PDE5 inhibitors can protect against heart attack and prolong life,” said Martin Holzmann, a deputy professor of medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. .
Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction, can be linked to impaired blood flow – and could be an early warning sign of heart disease in healthy men, the authors noted.
ED can be treated topically with the injected drug alprostadil, which dilates blood vessels, or with drugs known as PDE5 inhibitors, which include the little blue pills and Cialis, according to Health Day.
Holzmann’s team compares the effect of alprostadil and PDE5 inhibitors in 18,500 men who have already had a heart attack or undergone a procedure such as a bypass or angioplasty, and who have been diagnosed with ‘stable’ coronary artery disease.
“The risk of a new heart attack is greatest during the first six months (after such interventions), after which we consider the coronary artery disease stable,” Holzmann wrote.
The subjects started taking some form of erectile dysfunction at least six months after their heart attack or heart procedure. About 16,500 of the men took Viagra, Cialis or another PDE5 drug, while the others injected alprostadil.
The researchers followed the men’s health for an average of nearly six years, during which about 2,800 of them died.
Those who took a PDE5 drug had a 12 percent lower risk of dying during the follow-up death than men who took alprostadil, the team reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Men using a PDE5 drug also have a lower risk of a new heart attack, heart failure or the need for an angioplasty or bypass procedure than those who received alprostadil, according to the report, which had no funding for the drug industry not.
The protection was dose-dependent, which means that the more often a man uses a PDE5 inhibitor, the smaller the risk.
Holzmann warned that the study was not designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, and said other factors could play a role.
‘It is possible that those who received PDE5 inhibitors were healthier than those of alprostadil and therefore had a lower risk. [of heart issues], ”He said as an example.
‘To determine if this is the risk-reducing agent, we should randomly assign patients to two groups, one who takes PDE5 and one who does not. The results we have now give us very good reason to undertake such a study, ‘Holzmann added.
Two experts in the United States who were not linked to the study said the findings were interesting, but stressed that more study was needed.
PDE5 medicine “is ‘vasoactive’, which means that it has an effect on the blood vessels, which makes it less stiff and vasodilates,” said Dr. Guy Mintz, director of cardiovascular health at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY, said. told Health Day.
“These drugs can also have anti-inflammatory effects,” he stressed.
that ‘it is not a therapy for all patients with coronary artery disease – only for those who also have impotence.’
He added: ‘It is necessary to do follow-up studies to see if PDE5 inhibitors are directly responsible for the beneficial effects, or is it the benefit of a partner (not lonely), an active sex life (exercise) or a happier approach to life (a sense of well-being). ‘
Dr. Michael Goyfman, who specializes in clinical cardiology at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, agreed that the Swedish findings are only useful for generating theories for the time being and not for changing medical practice.
He suggested that the better results for men taking a PDE5 are based on their underlying health – perhaps only the diseases have alprostadil – or income – because those who could afford them the ED drugs.
“While the study is interesting, it will not change practice until further, randomized controlled trials are conducted,” Goyfman said.