Men with breathing problems during sleep may commonly suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) as well, a small study suggests. Researchers found that of 30 men with the breathing disorder sleep apnea, 24 (80 percent) also had symptoms of ED.

People with sleep apnea have numerous stops and starts in breathing during the night, with chronic, loud snoring being a hallmark of the condition. The most common form of the disorder is obstructive sleep apnea, in which the soft tissues at the back of the throat temporarily collapse during sleep, blocking the airways.

Over time, oxygen deprivation during the night can harm the cardiovascular system, raising the odds of high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease.

But researchers have also speculated that sleep apnea could contribute to ED, according to the authors of the new study, led by Dr. John P. Mulhall of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, and published in the journal Urology.

For one, it’s thought that the erections men naturally have during deep REM sleep help preserve normal erectile function. Men with sleep apnea, however, have continuous sleep interruptions and spend less time in the REM stages.

To study the relationship between sleep apnea and ED, Mulhall and his colleagues assessed 50 men who came to a sleep clinic with possible symptoms of sleep apnea - which, besides chronic loud snoring may include daytime sleepiness and concentration problems.

Thirty of these men were diagnosed with sleep apnea, 24 of whom were also diagnosed with ED based on a standard questionnaire. And the worse the sleep apnea, the more severe the ED tended to be.

In contrast, only four of the 20 men without sleep apnea were diagnosed with ED.

“Our data suggest that men with sleep apnea syndrome have a significant chance of having ED and that a correlation exists between the severity of sleep apnea and ED,” Mulhall and his colleagues conclude.

It’s not clear why the two conditions are linked, according to the researchers. Body mass index, which was not assessed in the study, could be one factor, as obesity is the single largest risk factor for sleep apnea, and overweight men also have a greater risk of ED.

Sleep apnea can also lower testosterone levels in the blood, the researchers note, which could contribute to erectile problems.

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SOURCE: Urology, May 2006.