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men who vape are more likely to experience erectile dysfunction

researchers uncover link between vaping products and men’s sexual health.

by chris arnold

dec 2 2021
read time 3 minute read
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men who vape are more likely to experience erectile dysfunction
the research team collected data from the population assessment of tobacco health study, which included nearly 46,000 adults in the united states. getty
electronic cigarettes are often seen as a healthier alternative to standard cigarettes, thanks to fewer toxic chemicals being used in production. but new research suggests vaping may be doing more harm to men, specifically, than originally thought. 
scientists from the grossman school of medicine at new york university found that people who vape are nearly two and a half times as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction as those who do not smoke at all. 

their work was published earlier this week in the american journal of preventive medicine .

“given that many people use e-cigarettes as a form of smoking harm reduction or to help them with smoking cessation, we need to fully investigate the relationship between vaping products and erectile dysfunction, and potential implications for men’s sexual health,” omar el shahawy, md, phd, mph, assistant professor in the department of population health at nyu langone and lead author of the study says. “our findings underscore the need to conduct further studies to contextualize the e-cigarette use pattern that is relatively safer than smoking.”
the research team collected data from the population assessment of tobacco health study, which included nearly 46,000 adults in the united states. 
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of those 46,000, 13,711 men aged 20 and older who responded to a question regarding ed were monitored and labeled as the full sample. 
additionally, 11,207 men between 20 and 65 years old with no history of cardiovascular disease, called the restricted sample, were also monitored. additional risk factors such as age, weight, mental health, and physical activity level were also considered.

between the two samples, a total of 24,918 men participated in the study. participants were classified into groups representing current smokers, former smokers, or never smokers. 

in the restricted sample of men, 10.2 per cent of people reported erectile dysfunction. the full sample reported 20.7 per cent of participants having erectile dysfunction. 
when comparing smokers against non-smokers, men who smoked daily were more than twice as likely to suffer from ed. in the full sample, 2.2 times as likely, and 2.4 times as likely for the restricted sample. even among people with a healthy body mass index, and without cardiovascular issues, there was an increase in ed for people who used e-cigarettes. this data suggests that there is a significant association between ed and vaping, the study says.

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“our analyses accounted for the cigarette smoking history of participants, including those who were never cigarette smokers to begin with, so it is possible that daily e-cigarette vaping may be associated with higher odds of erectile dysfunction regardless of one’s smoking history,” says el shahawy. 
one of the limitations of the study, according to the researchers, is that the data was entirely dependent on self reporting for both e-cigarette usage and erectile dysfunction. both of those factors could be subject to misclassification and what is known as desirability bias. that means the possibility that respondents will only answer questions based on how they think their answer will be looked at by others. 
additionally, there was no information regarding any medication the participants were taking that could contribute to ed. 
in later studies, el shahawy and the team of researchers will look into if certain types of e-cigarettes have a higher association to erectile dysfunction, and if the condition could be reversed by quitting.

as many as 15 per cent of canadians have tried a vaping product as of 2017, according to the federal government , and 32 per cent of former cigarette smokers reported using a vape as a quitting aid. 

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chris arnold is a toronto-based freelance writer . he can be reached here. 

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