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Abstract
Background
Whether erectile dysfunction (ED) leads to considerable stress for affected men remains unclear? In this study, we investigated whether organic ED (OED) is associated with increased risks of herpes zoster (HZ) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).
Methods
A representative subset of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database was employed for this study. Enrollees with OED from the years 2000 to 2018 were selected. To ensure comparability between the case and control groups, we implemented 1:1 propensity score matching based on age, index year, comorbidities, and medications.
Results
The case group included 20,808 patients with OED, while the control group consisted of 20,808 individuals without OED. The OED group exhibited a significantly elevated risk of HZ (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 1.74) and PHN (aHR = 1.56) compared to the non-OED group.
Conclusions
Men experiencing OED seem to face elevated risks of HZ and PHN compared to those without OED. ED may serve as a warning sign for individuals at HZ risk.
Acknowledgments
This study received partial support from the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial Center (MOHW112-TDU-B-212-144004) and the China Medical University Hospital (DMR-112-087). The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Health Data Science Center, China Medical University Hospital, for providing valuable administrative and technical assistance throughout the research process.
Authors’ contributions
K-HW was responsible for conceiving and designing the study, as well as writing the initial draft of the manuscript. W-CH contributed to the study design and provided critical revisions to the manuscript. H-JL conducted the statistical analyses, created figures and tables, and contributed to the interpretation of the results. F-JT offered valuable insights to the idea and project administration. C-YH supervised the study, provided guidance throughout the research process, and approved the manuscript for publication. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement
The study’s data were sourced from the National Health Insurance Research Database, facilitated by the Taiwan National Health Insurance Administration. Because of the Personal Data Protection Act, public disclosure of the data is restricted. Nevertheless, researchers interested in utilizing the data for research can submit applications for access via the Taiwan National Health Insurance Administration’s website: http://nhird.nhri.org.tw.