Prevalence of erectile dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Growing evidence reports that chronic kidney diseases (CKD) might play a role in erectile dysfunction (ED), but limited knowledge is available. Therefore, we performed a systematic review up to 21/08/2019 to investigate the associations between CKD and ED. The main analysis reported the prevalence of ED as absolute estimates (in %) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and across CKD stages (when specified), hemodialysis and transplant, calculating the p for interaction across strata. Among 291 studies, we included 34 articles with 5986 men. We found an overall prevalence of 76% (95%CI: 72–79) with a high degree of heterogeneity (I2 = 84.2%; p < 0.0001). Analyzing the data by CKD stage, we found a significant higher prevalence of ED in CKD (78%; 95%CI: 75–81%; I2 = not possible) compared with hemodialysis stage (prevalence = 77%; 95%CI: 73–80%; I2 = 84.5) or to patients undergoing transplant (prevalence = 64%; 95%CI: 54–74%; I2 = 54%) (p across strata = 0.036). Considering the high prevalence of ED in men with CKD, health care practitioners should focus on issues of sexual health in men with CKD. Given the advancements in dialysis and therapy and the associated advancements in survival and life expectancy, maintaining the patients’ sexual function is important for their well-being and quality of life.