In fact, they report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in older men taking erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra is twice as high as in their non-medicated peers.

In both groups, however, the numbers are swelling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than six new cases of STDs per 10,000 men over 40 in 2008, up almost 50 percent since 1996.

“Younger adults have far more STDs than older adults, but the rates are growing at far higher rates in older adults,” said Dr. Anupam B. Jena of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who led the study.

While the reasons for this development aren’t well understood, he said more divorces and better health might have conspired to boost sexual prowess and activity among graying heads.

The problem, however, is that older adults appear to flout safe sex practices. For instance, the researchers note, 50-year-olds are six times less likely to use a condom than men in their 20s.

“We are typically unaccustomed to practice safe sex over the age of 50, because the risk of pregnancy is eliminated,” Jena told Reuters Health.

To test whether the introduction of Viagra in 1998 might explain some of the STD surge, Jena and colleagues examined insurance records for more than 1.4 million U.S. men over 40. The average age in the study was about 60 years.

The most commonly found STD was HIV, followed by chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea.

Among the few percent of men who had filled prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs, more than two in a thousand had been treated for an STD in the year before they got the drug.

A year later, the number dropped to half that, suggesting that Viagra and its chemical cousins didn’t fuel STDs.

However, the risk of contracting an STD turned out to be more than twice as high in men taking erectile dysfunction drugs compared with those who didn’t.

“These users have a different sexual risk profile than non-users,” said Jena, adding that the data didn’t reveal any good explanation.

In an editorial, Dr. Thomas Fekete, of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, noted that it would have been valuable to know more about the frequency of sexual encounters, sexual partners and orientation.

He added that prevention strategies should still be directed at younger age groups, whose STD risk is at least 10 times higher than in middle-aged and older adults.

Still, he said, the authors remind us “that men older than 40 years remain sexually active, even if they need chemical assistance to do so. This study also serves as a reminder that sex after age 40 years is not necessarily safe.”

Jena recommended that doctors take a few minutes to discuss safe sex with older men when they prescribe Viagra.

His advice? “Look, just realize that you are at higher risk for STDs, and try to be careful like you used to be 30 years ago.”

SOURCE: www.annals.org/

Annals of Internal Medicine, online July 5, 2010.

Technorati Tags: Annals of Internal Medicine, erectile dysfunction drugs, safe sex, Viagra

Moreover, treatments for cardiovascular disease had no effect on erectile dysfunction, so the German researchers concluded that erectile dysfunction is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

“This is an important study that adds to a growing body of literature, which clearly demonstrates that erectile dysfunction is a potent risk factor for death and future cardiovascular events,” said Dr. R. Parker Ward, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “Presence of erectile dysfunction is a potent risk factor for future heart disease independent of other risk factors or prior cardiovascular disease.”

In fact, the researchers found that men with cardiovascular disease along with erectile dysfunction were 1.9 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, twice as likely to have a heart attack, 1.2 times more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure and 1.1 times more likely to have a stroke.

The report was released online March 15 in advance of publication in the March 30 print edition of Circulation.

For the study, a team led by Dr. Michael Bohm, chairman of internal medicine in the Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care at the University of Saarland in Germany, collected data on 1,519 men from around the world who took part in one of two heart disease trials: ONTARGET or TRANSCEND.

These men were classified as having mild, mild-to-moderate, moderate or severe erectile dysfunction. In addition, they were given questionnaires to complete at the start of each study and again about five years later. In both trials, in addition to cardiovascular disease, 55 percent of the men also had erectile dysfunction.

In the ONTARGET study, men were randomly selected to take blood pressure-lowering drugs — either the ACE inhibitor ramipril (Altace) or the angiotensin II receptor antagonist telmisartan (Micardis) or a combination of both. In the TRANSCEND trial, ACE inhibitor-intolerant patients were treated with Micardis or a placebo.

The researchers found men suffering from erectile dysfunction were more likely to have high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and lower urinary tract surgery, compared to men without erectile dysfunction.

Among those with erectile dysfunction, 11.3 percent died from any cause, compared with 5.6 percent of men with mild or no erectile dysfunction. In addition, 16.2 percent of the men with erectile dysfunction died from a cardiovascular problem, heart attack, stroke or were hospitalized for heart failure, compared with 10.3 percent of men with no or mild erectile dysfunction, the researchers reported.

Erectile dysfunction is linked to the endothelial dysfunction (problems with the cells that line the blood vessels) that occurs in atherosclerosis and the vascular disturbances such as the build-up of plaque that happens before heart attack and stroke, the study authors explained.

Men need to realize that erectile dysfunction is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease just as high blood pressure and cholesterol are, Bohm said in a statement: “If a man has erectile dysfunction, then he needs to ask his physician to check for other risk factors of cardiovascular disease.”

This study provides further evidence that all physicians should include questions about erectile function as part of their office-based assessment of a patient’s risk of future cardiovascular disease, Ward said.

“It is important that we make patients aware of implications of erectile dysfunction on their heart health so they freely discuss these sensitive issues with their physicians,” he said. “While the best strategies to reduce this additional risk in patients with erectile dysfunction have not been proven, it is reasonable for physicians to intensify traditional strategies aimed at lowering cardiac risk in patients with erectile dysfunction.”

Another expert, Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that “erectile dysfunction is observed more frequently in men with cardiovascular risk factors and those with established cardiovascular disease, and recent studies have suggested men with erectile dysfunction may be at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.”

He added that “erectile dysfunction may be an important indicator of more advanced atherosclerotic vascular disease and endothelial dysfunction.”

Technorati Tags: cardiovascular medicine, endothelial dysfunction, Erectile Dysfunction, Heart Disease

The operation involving 60 customs officers, seven prosecutors and 25 tax investigators turned up a stockpile of 46,000 pills destined for mail-order distribution, the customs office in the western city of Essen said.

Seven people were detained in the raids throughout the surrounding Ruhr Valley region carried out in early May after a months-long probe. Four have since been remanded in custody.

“The medication, which requires a prescription, was sold via so-called online pharmacies on the Internet,” the customs office said in a statement.

“Hundreds of customers ensured millions in sales which went into various accounts held by the perpetrators abroad.”

Authorities froze bank accounts in Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, France and Turkey believed to be used by the ring and confiscated four luxury vehicles and 15,000 euros (21,000 dollars) in cash which will be used toward offsetting a tax bill of 2.5 million euros.

The operation came under an initiative codenamed “Blue” after the colour of Viagra pills entailing cooperation with pharmaceuticals companies to crack down on the illegal online trade in counterfeit medication.

Violations of Germany’s pharmaceutical laws can carry prison terms of up to 10 years. Authorities warn that counterfeit medication often fails to meet basic safety and quality standards, so it’s better to choose brand Viagra medication instead.

Technorati Tags: generic Viagra, online pharmacies, Viagra, Viagra from India, Viagra in Germany, Viagra pills