Thaindian News

Washington, Nov 15 (IANS) The habit of popping several pills daily could hit your bedroom performance and send it plummeting to a zero, a new study reveals.

The study by Kaiser Permanente, part of the California Men’s Health Study, surveyed 37,712 men from southern California who popped pills daily, resulting in severe erectile dysfunction (ED).

The study investigated men who took more than three medications. Twenty-nine percent were reported to have moderate or severe ED.

The study included multi-ethnic men aged between 46 and 69 years. Information about the use of medication between the years 2002 and 2003 was obtained from pharmacy records, the British Journal of Urology International reported.

Besides the number of medications, ED was associated with older age, higher body mass index, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, depression and being a current or past smoker, a Kaiser report stated.

“Clinically, the findings . . . suggest that a crucial step in the evaluation of ED would be to review the current medications the patient is taking and their potential side effects,” said Diana C. Londono, lead author and uroglogist at Kaiser Permanente.

The most common medications associated with ED include certain anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs and any medication which can interfere with testosterone pathways.

Researchers found that 57 percent of men in the study took more than three medications. Use of multiple medications was the greatest among older age groups, with 53 percent of men aged 50 to 59 years and 66 percent men aged 60 to 70 years intaking at least three medications.

ED is a problem that affects a significant number of men worldwide, previous studies have shown that 35 percent of men over the age of 60 suffer from ED.