COVID-19 may cause Erectile Dysfunction (ED) and the high level of
testosterone is associated with poor prognosis
Abstract
We aimed to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 and Erectile
Dysfunction (ED) and the effect of serum testosterone level on the
disease prognosis. Between April-December 2020, 70 patients who admitted
with a complaint of ED after having COVID-19 and whose serum
testosterone level was checked for any reason before COVID-19. The
patients filled the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5)
and their testosterone level was checked. This questionnaire was
arranged to present the first month before COVID-19 and after COVID-19.
The patients were registered as 20-40 age group 1, 40-60 age group 2 and
60 years and above group 3. Testosterone levels of the patients before
and after COVID-19 were compared. The relationship between testosterone
levels and hospitalization in the intensive care was evaluated. It was
revealed that testosterone levels and IIEF-5 scores after COVID-19 in
all three groups were statisticaly and significantly different compared
to the period before COVID-19 (p <0.05). Testosterone levels
of patients in need of intensive care were significantly higher than
those without any need of intensive care (p <0.05). Our study
has presented that COVID-19 may cause ED and high testosterone levels
increase the rate of hospitalization in the intensive care by
intensifying the disease. Keywords COVID-19, erectile dysfunction,
testosterone What’s already known about this topic? The relationship
between Erectile Dysfunction (ED) and COVID-19 develops due to
vasculogenic and hormonal causes which were caused by the primary
disease. What does this article add? We showed with this study that
COVID-19 causes ED in all age groups, reduces testosterone levels
seriously. Moreover, we also presented that the higher the testosterone
levels during COVID-19, the more severe the disease progresses.