Alcohol abuse is the leading cause of sexual dysfunction, including disturbances in sexual desire, erectile achievement, and impotence. There was a study conducted measuring the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in alcohol-dependent men by Bijil Simon Arackal and Vivek Benegal. In this study, they asked men between the ages of 20-50 years old admitted to treatment centers that were married or had a regular sexual partner with a diagnosis of alcohol dependence syndrome to complete a sexual dysfunction checklist. About 37% of all subjects reported suffering from premature ejaculation, the majority reporting that they ejaculated within the first minute of intercourse. The study found a strong correlation between the number of sexual dysfunctions subjects reported and the amount of alcohol consumed per day, suggesting an increase in sexual dysfunction development with an increase in alcohol consumption. The study concluded with the notion that sexual dysfunction can come from psychogenic sources that can act as a comorbidity which they did not test, limiting the findings of the study. Interestingly, there was no evidence suggesting that sexual dysfunction development was dependent on age or the number of years of alcohol dependence.
This study is important because a 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 15.1 million adults had an alcohol use disorder, 8.4% of which were men. While a 2017 study shows that there has been a rise in alcohol consumption, namely an increase between 2001-2002 as compared to 2012-2013 in high-risk populations. Suggesting that sexual dysfunction may be on the rise, especially within high-risk populations as more people are reporting having an alcohol dependence disorder.
I wonder what effects alcohol dependence has on a woman's sex drive. Since "female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics" I would imagine that the effects of alcohol dependence might also be more severe in other facets of a woman's life. If I were to conduct a similar study I would compare men and woman, as well as ask them if their alcohol habits started before or after their sexual dysfunction issues. This is really interesting in that it begins to get at how detrimental alcohol dependence can be.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is a correlation between those patients that binge drink double digit standard drinks in one night but only do so a few times a week instead of a steady intake of alcohol throughout the week. The way that alcohol actually causes ED needs more research done but there are a few studies out that provide a little bit of insight. NADPH oxidase is the main reactive oxygen species in vascular smooth muscle and ethanol increases the amount of this enzyme. The study gave rats a different amount of ethanol and then pro-inflammatory and redox-senstitive proteins in the rat's smooth muscle. The results showed that ethanol increased the O2 regeneration for catalase activity. The study concluded that long term ethanol consumption leads to erectile dysfunction which is what we already knew. I also read somewhere that the effects that alcohol has on the brain makes the signals from the genitals to the brain get mixed up and make it harder for the genitals to signal for that it is needed for an intimate setting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014299917301930?via%3Dihub