Vitamin D Status in Renal Transplant recipients is not Associated with Erectile Dysfunction

Abstract

SUMMARY -Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a highly prevalent disorder among renal transplant recipients. Vitamin D defi ciency (VDD) has been associated with several ED risk factors but only recently directly linked to ED. We conducted a study to investigate whether vitamin D serum levels were associated with the presence and severity of ED in 40 male patients that underwent deceased donor kidney transplantation (TX) from 2001 to 2013. Blood samples were collected on two seasonally distinct occasions and 25(OH)D concentration was assessed by radioimmunoassay. A 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) was used for ED evaluation and group stratifi cation. We found comparable rates of ED (75%) and VDD (42.5%-62.5%) as in previously published studies. Serum levels of 25(OH)D did not diff er between patients with and those without ED on both measurements (p=0.656 and p=0.914, respectively), or when comparing diff erent ED severity groups. Duration of renal replacement therapy before TX and graft duration until analysis were longer in patients with ED (p=0.022 and p=0.05, respectively), but with the results being nonsignifi cant on logistic regression. In conclusion, we found no association of 25(OH)D concentration with the presence and severity of ED in renal transplant recipients. So far, there are no similar published data.

Is There an Association Between Vitamin D Deficiency and Erectile Dysfunction? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Sudarevic and colleagues conducted a study on patients who underwent kidney transplantation following the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this cohort of patients, they did not find any association between vitamin D and ED [8]. Some evidence suggests that the prevalence of ED in CKD patients is around 50-80% and this prevalence remains high even after transplantation, albeit with a slight improvement.…”

“…We also contacted the latter authors for clarification, but received no response. Finally, eight articles [8][9][10][11][12][22][23][24] met our inclusion criteria and were therefore included in the analysis, resulting in a total sample size of 4055 patients (Figure 1). The main characteristics of the studies included in the meta-analysis are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the serum levels of 25(OH)D 3 have a seasonal variability [40] and only one study has clarified whether 25(OH)D 3 was measured in summer or winter. Therefore, the bias of seasonality could be excluded [8].…”

“…Considering this multi-factoriality, vitamin D deficiency can only have a minor influence on ED in these patients. In addition, 17.5% of the patients included in the study by Sudarevic and colleagues had already been treated with vitamin D after enrollment, thus influencing the final data and, accordingly, any association with ED [8].…”

“…This is probably due to the heterogeneity of the studies published so far on this topic. Indeed, almost all of these studies included a cohort of patients with important comorbidities (e.g., diabetes mellitus, renal failure, hypogonadism, benign prostatic hyperplasia) [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], which in themselves are well-known causes of ED. Furthermore, very few studies have evaluated the effects of vitamin D supplementation on sexual dysfunction [13][14][15][16].…”