Taking Viagra does more than improve men’s performance in bed – it may also help people with coronary artery disease live longer and have a lower risk of another heart attack, according to a new study.
“Potency problems are common in older men and now our study also shows that PDE5 inhibitors can protect against heart attack and prolong life,” said lead author Martin Holzmann, an adjunct professor of medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Impotence, also known as erectile dysfunction, may be associated with decreased blood flow – and may 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 medications known as PDE5 inhibitors, including the little blue pills and Cialis, according to Health Day.
Holzmann’s team compared the effect of alprostadil and PDE5 inhibitors among 18,500 men who had already had a heart attack or had a procedure such as a bypass or angioplasty and who were 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 to be stable,” wrote Holzmann.
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 were on Viagra, Cialis, or another PDE5 drug, while the others were injected with alprostadil.
The researchers followed the men’s health for an average of nearly six years, with about 2,800 of them dying.
Those taking a PDE5 drug had a 12 percent lower risk of dying during that follow-up than men taking alprostadil, the team reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Men taking a PDE5 drug also had 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 from the pharmaceutical industry.
The protection was dose-dependent, which means that the more often a man used a PDE5 inhibitor, the lower his risk.
Holzmann cautioned that the study was not designed to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, saying other factors may play a role.
“It is possible that those taking PDE5 inhibitors were healthier than those taking alprostadil and therefore had a lower risk [of heart issues], ”He said as an example.
“To find out if it is the drug that reduces the risk, we should randomly divide patients into two groups, one using PDE5 and one not. The results we have now give us a very good reason to start such an investigation, ”added Holzmann.
Two experts in the United States who were not involved in the study said the findings are intriguing, but stressed that more research is needed.
PDE5 drugs “are ‘vasoactive,’ meaning they have an effect on blood vessels making them less stiff and able to cause vasodilation,” Dr. Guy Mintz, director of cardiovascular health at Northwell Health’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital in Manhasset, NY, told Health Day.
“These agents can also have anti-inflammatory effects,” he said emphasizing
that “this is not a therapy for all patients with coronary artery disease – only those who also have impotence.”
He added, “There is a need for further studies to see if PDE5 inhibitors are directly responsible for the beneficial effects, or is the benefit due to having a partner (not being lonely), having an active sex life (exercise) , or a happier approach to life (a sense of well-being). “
Dr. Michael Goyfman, who leads clinical cardiology at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, agreed that, for now, the Swedish findings are only useful for generating theories, not changing medical practice.
He suggested that the better outcomes for men taking a PDE5 were based on their underlying health – perhaps just the sicker alprostadil – or income, because those better off could afford the ED drugs.
“While the study is interesting, it would not change practice until further randomized controlled trials are conducted,” said Goyfman.