More sex, less erectile dysfunction

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Lonely hearts may have one more thing to worry about — erectile dysfunction.

Crunching data from a five-year study of 959 men ages 55 to 75, Finnish researchers found that men with no signs of erectile dysfunction, who had sex once a week or more, were less likely to later develop erectile dysfunction than men who had sex less often. In fact, men who reported having intercourse fewer than once a week at the beginning of the study had twice the incidence of ED than those who had sex more often.

They also found that participants who reported less than one morning erection a week had 2.5 times the risk of later developing erectile dysfunction compared with those who experienced two to three morning erections.

The researchers adjusted for factors typically associated with erectile dysfunction, including age, excess weight, smoking and certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and depression.

The study appears in the July issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

-- Janet Cromley