Impotence and heart disease ‘increase death risk’

“If patients have erectile dysfunction, we have to be very aggressive about screening and treating them for heart disease,” Parikh said.

Bohm and Parikh both agreed that patients and their doctors need to look hard at the hearts of men with erectile dysfunction.

“Men with ED going to a general practitioner or a urologist need to be referred for a cardiology workup [for] proper treatment,” Bohm said.

“The medication works and the patient doesn’t show up any more,” he added.