According to a study published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, Erectile Dysfunction (ED) can negatively affect your overall “productivity at work” and “health-related quality of life.”
The study looked at the data from eight countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, China, and Brazil. Researchers asked participants whether ED reduced their work productive.
The researchers found that erectile dysfunction negatively affected more than 49 percent of participants. They also found that men with ED were likely to be leading an unhealthy lifestyle; they were obese, smoking tobacco, drinking excessive alcohol, and not exercising at all. Also, they were found to have other medical issues associated with ED.
All of these factors are responsible for reducing productivity at work, which is why the researchers also considered them in their study. ED significantly reduced productivity at work even after considering the above factors.
The researchers wrote, “After controlling for covariates, men with ED (versus no ED) had significantly greater impairment in the U.S. (2.11 times as much overall work productivity impairment).”
“ED poses a significant burden with respect to work productivity and health-related quality of life, with greater severity associated with worse outcomes,” the researchers wrote. “Better management and earlier detection may help reduce this burden, especially in countries reporting a strong association between ED and poor economic and health outcomes.”
Also called impotence, erectile dysfunction is defined as “an inability to achieve or maintain an erection that is sufficient for sex.”
While determining its prevalence rate is quite challenging, it is estimated that ED affects more than half of men between the ages 40 and 70. A study found that ED affected more than 150 million men in 1995, globally. Experts predict that ED will affect more than 320 million men by 2025.
Previous studies have found that impotence negatively affects the overall quality of life, but very few have looked at its effect on productivity at work.
The researchers were also able to find that men with ED had more absenteeism at work due to the condition than men who had no ED. They wrote, “Absenteeism, presenteeism, overall work productivity loss, and activity impairment were more than twofold higher in men with ED than men with no ED.”
Senior study author Tarek Hassan said, “Stemming from eight countries, the global coverage of the data also suggests that this issue is pervasive across geographies.” Please note that the study was supported and funded by Pfizer, which has developed the blockbuster ED drug – Viagra.
