Viagra has additional benefits aside from helping men with erectile dysfunction. A new study claims that it can also lower their risk of cardiovascular disease.
Viagra Lowers Rick of Cardiovascular Death Among Men Using It
Pharmaceutical company Sanofi funds a study examining viagra's benefit in men's heart conditions. It examined 14-year medical records of over 23,000 American men prescribed a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE-5i), such as the common erectile dysfunction medication Viagra. The study compared health details with those in the records of 48,000 men who received no comparable prescription, ScienceAlert reported.
The men taking PDE-5i were 39% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those with no record of a prescription, according to the study. They were also 25% less likely to die from any cause and 13% less likely to die from any cardiac event, including heart attack and stroke.
The study noted that men with a higher cumulative dose of PDE-5i were better protected against heart disease than those with a lower dose.
The researchers added that the study only supports that Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are safe and may protect one from cardiovascular disease. The findings suggest an immediate need for an adequately powered, prospective randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
The study was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
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What Did Other Experts Say About Viagra's Cardioprotective Properties?
Cardiologist Deepak Bhatt, the director of Mount Sinai Heart in New York, finds the study interesting. However, he believes that a "randomized clinical trial" where patients with cardiovascular disease were randomly given Viagra or placebo would be necessary to support the drug's cardiovascular benefits.
He told ScienceAlert that Viagra might benefit the heart, but that requires further investigation, and the current study does not prove it.
He suggested that the patient's prescribed Viagra were less likely to have heart disease because patients with severe heart disease are often not placed on sildenafil in the first place.
Nial Wheate, a pharmaceutical chemist at the University of Sydney in Australia, told ScienceAlert that the study is observational, so it will not have the same impact as a clinical trial. He added that Viagra's benefits for cardiovascular health had been known for quite some time, so it was not surprising.
Wheate is confident with the study because pharmaceutical companies like Sanofi usually fund studies "at arm's length."
The next step is to conduct a large clinical trial in a controlled environment to confirm the result.
Viagra-Like Drug For Heart Failure
In 2019, researchers from the University of Manchester discovered Tadalafil, a drug belonging to Viagra, as an effective treatment for heart failure in sheep, Science Times reported.
Professor Andrew Trafford, the lead researcher, believed that the drug would have the same effect on humans. He considered the study an important advancement as most treatments for heart failure were ineffective.
The study had limited evidence from human trials and epidemiological studies showing Tadalafil's potential in treating heart failure. Trafford used sheep for the study because the physiology of their hearts is similar to humans.
Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, added that Viagra-like drugs were originally developed as a treatment for heart disease before they found unexpected benefits in treating erectile dysfunction.
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