Alternative medicine (1)
- Erectile dysfunction herbs: A natural treatment for ED?
Causes (1)
- Male hypogonadism
Complications (2)
- Erectile dysfunction: A sign of heart disease?
- Self-esteem check: Too low, too high or just right?
Lifestyle and home remedies (1)
- Kegel exercises for men: Understand the benefits
Prevention (1)
- Penis health: Identify and prevent problems
Risk factors (1)
- Senior sex: Tips for older men
Symptoms (1)
- Symptom Checker
Treatments and drugs (5)
- Erectile dysfunction and diabetes: Take control today
- Erectile dysfunction herbs: A natural treatment for ED?
- Erectile dysfunction: Viagra and other oral medications
- see all in Treatments and drugs
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Erectile dysfunction: A sign of heart disease?
Erectile dysfunction can be a wake-up call that you're at risk of heart disease. The same factors that contribute to heart disease can cause erectile dysfunction.
By Mayo Clinic staffErectile dysfunction can be stressful, but it isn't life-threatening. However, heart disease can be. Erectile dysfunction — difficulty maintaining an erection sufficient for sex — can be an early warning sign of heart problems. Understanding the connections between erectile dysfunction and heart health may help you recognize signs and symptoms of heart disease early on and get treatment before heart problems become serious. Likewise, if you have heart disease, getting the right treatment may help with erectile dysfunction.
Clogged arteries: Where erectile dysfunction and heart disease meet
Atherosclerosis (ath-ur-o-skluh-RO-sis) — sometimes called hardening of the arteries — is the buildup of plaques in the arteries in different parts of your body. It causes the arteries to narrow and harden, limiting blood flow. Because the arteries supplying your penis are smaller than those supplying your heart, symptoms of atherosclerosis may first show up as erectile dysfunction. Heart disease occurs when you have atherosclerosis in the arteries that supply your heart with blood. Atherosclerosis can also increase your risk of other problems, including aneurysm, stroke and peripheral artery disease.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Lue TF. Physiology of penile erection and pathophysiology of erectile dysfunction. In: Wein AJ. Campbell-Walsh Urology. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/198358299-3/0/1445/24.html?tocnode=54301159&fromURL=24.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-7216-0798-6..50023-6_1722. Accessed April 10, 2010.
- Inman BA, et al. A population-based longitudinal study of erectile dysfunction and future coronary artery disease. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2009;84:108.
- Goldstein I. The mutually reinforcing triad of depressive symptoms, heart disease, and erectile dysfunction. American Journal of Cardiology. 2000;86(suppl):41F.
- Grogan M (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. April 26, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on