Novel predictive risk factor for erectile dysfunction: Serum high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein
Guodong Liu, Yuyang Zhang, Wei Zhang, Xu Wu, Hui Jiang, Houbao Huang, Xiansheng Zhang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: C-reactive protein (CRP), as a marker of inflammation, may be closely related to erectile dysfunction (ED), however, there is no meta-analysis exists for it. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to verify the relationship between CRP and erectile dysfunction and to explore the changes of CRP levels in ED patients after first-line treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched databases including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and MEDLINE to identify studies up to January 1, 2022. We performed a comprehensive analysis of the included studies by STATA software and calculated standardized mean differences (SMDs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: A total of 12 studies were included and the analysis showed that CRP levels were higher significantly in patients with erectile dysfunction than the healthy controls (p < 0.001) and decreased by a mean of 0.38 mg/L after first-line PDE5i drug treatment (p = 0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This novel meta-analysis suggests that CRP is statistically significantly associated with erectile dysfunction and may be a predictor or risk factor for the assessment of ED. However, further original studies with large sample sizes are needed to validate this.