The objective of this study consisted in assessing the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) and other sexual dysfunctions in a group of men who attended a prostate awareness week campaign. In total, 2715 men attended to 'Semana de la Prostata 2001' campaign and received an additional questionnaire on sexual health. The prevalence of ED, desire and ejaculatory disorders was of 41.7, 33.8 and 49.3%, respectively; however, not all of them lived these difficulties as a real sexual problem because only 918 men (37.8%) acknowledged having 'any sexual difficulty'. Only 13.7% of the attendees consulted a physician for this reason in the past. This first Argentinean study proves the high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions in our population.

Our results show that in men older than 45 years, as long as testosterone levels decline, the prevalence of MS increases, independently of age. The correlations found between testosterone and four of the five components of MS, as well as with BMI and TG/HDL-chol ratio, a surrogate marker of insulin resistance, suggest considering male hypogonadism as a determinant of developmental abnormalities typical of MS.

Psychological factors and stressful life events (LE) are considered to play a role in the onset of the metabolic syndrome (MS). We tested the association between LE and cortisol, a marker of chronic stress, with the risk of developing MS and their interaction. From a total number of 2906 men who completed a screening for the early detection of prostate cancer, 149 healthy men (mean ± SD age, 58.6 ± 7.7 years) were included in this study. Participants were assessed by the Holmes and Rahe questionnaire about their experience of LE during the previous 1-5 years. MS was diagnosed according to National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. Serum cortisol was measured at 08:00-09:00 h. Participants with MS (IDF criteria) reported significantly more past LE (p = 0.009) and greater summed weight of LE (p = 0.049) than those without MS. Furthermore, LE interacted with cortisol in relation to MS: in men with increased serum cortisol levels ( ≥ 13.7 μg/dl), number of LE significantly predicted MS-status (relative risk (RR) = 1.16, p = 0.03), whereas in men with low cortisol, LE were unrelated to MS (p = 0.52). We conclude that LE were significantly more prevalent in men with the MS than without the MS, according to IDF criteria, independent of the effects of age and body mass index, especially in men with increased serum cortisol levels.