News of some important research regarding the likelihood of erectile dysfunction has just come to the Ukmedix newsroom. It appears that men who have the symptoms of an overactive bladder or OAB for short are nearly twice as likely to experience some erectile dysfunction when compared to men with normal bladder function.

The research was made public at the 36th AGM of the International Continence Society that was organised in Christchurch, New Zealand and the researchers presented evidence also that showed that those men with OAB had more or less the same likelihood of developing erectile dysfunction as men who had hypertension or diabetes, two other causes of impotence.

The lead researcher Professor Irwin from the University of North Carolina along with her colleagues looked at the link between men over the age of fifty who had OAB and erectile dysfunction. They selected the men from a study that is looking at OAB in adults all over the world.

Over 500 men over the age of fifty were selected from Italy, Sweden, Germany, the UK and Canada who were known to have the OAB symptoms and then another randomly chosen other group of 500 men were questioned to act as a control group to compare results with.

The men were asked about whether urinary problems had an effect on the enjoyment of sex and whether it caused them to have to stop sex. The men were also questioned about their medical history.

Over all the results clearly showed that the OAB could greatly increase the chances of erectile dysfunction with the figures showing that the men with OAB had a 35% chance of suffering from the condition compared to only 20% for the control group. The researchers also saw that the incidence of OAB also was likely to mean a lowering in sexual activity in men.

The study that was financed by Pfizer the maker of Viagra clearly shows that OAB is as serious an indicator of erectile dysfunction as hypertension and diabetes are.