Men who use e-cigarettes twice as likely to suffer erectile dysfunction, study finds - Daily Mail

Men who vape or use e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction, a new study has suggested.

The team, from New York's Grossman School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University, said men should be warned about the potential impact vaping could have on their love life — as England gets ready to become the first country in the world to prescribe e-cigarettes to help smokers quit.

Traditional smoking has been long established as cause of erectile dysfunction due to the chemicals contained in tobacco products, such as nicotine, damaging the blood vessels connected to the penis. .

While vaping is generally considered healthier than traditional smoking  scientists have recently been exploring a possible relation between the sexual health problems and e-cigarette products.

'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,' he said.

'We need to fully investigate the relationship between vaping products and erectile dysfunction, and potential implications for men’s sexual health,' he said.

'Our findings underscore the need to conduct further studies to contextualize the e-cigarette use pattern that is relatively safer than smoking.'.

In both groups men who used e-cigarette products were twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction, 2.2 times more likely in the larger sample size and rising to 2.4 times as likely in the sample without cardiovascular disease. .

Almost half of all participants were former cigarette smokers, 21 per cent were current cigarette smokers, and 14 percent used vapes and e-cigarettes.  .

The authors also did not state whether the risk erectile dysfunction for people who use vapes and e-cigarettes was higher or lower than that of traditional smoking. .

The researchers, who published their findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine said they next plan to examine if different types of electronic nicotine delivery devices have differing affects on erectile dysfunction and if it can be reversed by stopping.  .

Vaping has been viewed as a safer alternative to smoking, with the UK mulling plans to prescribe e-cigarettes to cigarette users to help them quit.

However Dr Garaffa said any damage caused by e-cigarettes and vapes, is both likely to be reversible and less than that caused traditional smoking due to the absence of substances like tar and carbon monoxide. .

'Instead, the chemicals inhaled by tobacco smokers, will also cause long term damage to the vessels of the cardiocirculatory system thus causing long term worsening of the erections on top of the short term effects of nicotine.'.

But he added it was the duty of all clinicians to inform patients of the risk of erectile dysfunction in vaping products.

Last month it was announced England is set to become the first country in the world to prescribe e-cigarettes to help smokers quit.

Currently, the NHS advises that vaping can help smokers – though it is not available on prescription.

An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is a device that allows users to inhale nicotine by heating a vapour from a solution that contain nicotine, propylene and flavourings