Erectile Dysfunction and Obesity in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Arterial Hypertension

Abstract

Objective: to study the relationship between erectile dysfunction and obesity parameters and the severity of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with arterial hypertension.Material and methods: 71 patients with different severity of erectile dysfunction, overweight and obesity of grade 1, mild and severe obstructive sleep apnea and arterial hypertension were included in the study. The data of cardiorespiratory monitoring, anthropometric parameters of obesity were analyzed and the severity of erectile dysfunction was assessed by intracavernous pharmacodopplerography, the results were compared with the subjective opinion of patients on the degree of severity of erectile dysfunction according to the IIEF-5 questionnaire. All patients underwent psychosomatic status analysis according to the questionnaire scales: assessment of daytime drowsiness on the Epworth scale, severity of personal and situational anxiety on the Spielberger scale and depression level on the Beck scale.Results: comparative analysis revealed statistically significant links between anthropometric data of obesity with OSA parameters (apnea/hypopnea index, desaturation index) (p<0.05), as well as the severity of erectile dysfunction (in terms of erection and dopplerography with evaluation of the of penile blood flow) (p<0.05). A statistically significant negative relationship between the quality of penile blood flow and the degree of arterial hypertension was revealed too (p=0.02). In a comparative analysis of the subjective state of erectile function and objective examination, no statistically significant association was revealed (p=0.07). As a result of the multifactorial linear regression, we have shown that with an increase of the waist circumference to the hip circumference ratio and a higher apnea/hypopnea index, the condition of penile arterial blood flow worsens, namely, a decrease in the peak systolic blood flow velocity (β=-0.39, p=0.05; β=-0.44, p=0.03, respectively). When assessing the psychosomatic state of patients, a significant correlation has been found between the severity of depression in the Beck scale and the level of personal and situational anxiety according to the Spielberger scale (p<0.05). The relationship between depression level on the Beck scale and the degree of situational anxiety with the severity of erectile dysfunction on the Juname scale has been also shown (p<0.05). Conclusion: the combination of overweight or obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and arterial hypertension gives ground to suspect the presence of different severity of erectile dysfunction. The severity of ED is directly proportional to the level of anxiety and depression according to the questionnaire scales.