A drug target for erectile dysfunction to help improve fertility, sexual activity, and wellbeing: mendelian randomisation study
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of genetically proxied (using a surrogate biomarker) inhibition of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5), an established drug target for erectile dysfunction, with fertility, sexual behaviour, and subjective wellbeing. DESIGN: Two sample cis-mendelian randomisation study. SETTING: Summary data on genetic associations obtained from the International Consortium for Blood Pressure and UK Biobank. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals of European ancestry from the International Consortium for Blood Pressure (n=757 601) for estimating PDE5 inhibition (using the surrogate biomarker of diastolic blood pressure reduction), and UK Biobank (n=211 840) for estimating the fertility, sexual behaviour, and subjective wellbeing outcomes in male participants. INTERVENTION: Genetically proxied PDE5 inhibition. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of children fathered, number of sexual partners, probability of never having had sexual intercourse, and subjective wellbeing. RESULTS: Genetically proxied PDE5 inhibition was associated with male participants having 0.28 (95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.39) more children (false discovery rate corrected P<0.001). This association was not identified in female participants. No evidence was found of an association between genetically proxied PDE5 inhibition and number of sexual partners, probability of never having had sexual intercourse, or self-reported wellbeing in male participants. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study provide genetic support for PDE5 inhibition potentially increasing the number of children fathered by male individuals. Absence of this association in female participants supports increased propensity for sustained and robust penile erections as a potential underlying mechanism. Further studies are required to confirm this, however, and these findings should not promote indiscriminate use of PDE5 inhibitors, which can also have harmful adverse effects.
Date Issued
2023-12-12
Date Acceptance
2023-10-09
Citation
BMJ: British Medical Journal, 2023, 383
ISSN
0959-535X
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Journal / Book Title
BMJ: British Medical Journal
Volume
383
Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work,
for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work,
for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38086555
Subjects
Biomarkers
Child
Erectile Dysfunction
Female
Fertility
Humans
Male
Penile Erection
Sexual Behavior
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
e076197
Date Publish Online
2023-12-12