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The association between gut microbiome and erectile dysfunction: a community-based cross-sectional study in Japan

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Purpose

We investigated the gut microbiome in subjects with erectile dysfunction (ED) in a community-based population.

Methods

This cross-sectional study surveyed comprehensive health status in 408 men who participated in the Iwaki Health Promotion Project in 2015 in Hirosaki, Japan. The gut microbiome was assessed by tag sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, which we extracted from fecal samples. Erectile function was evaluated with the five-item International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5), and the men were divided into two groups: low-IIEF-5 (≤ 16) and high-IIEF-5 (> 16). Of those, we selected age-adjusted 192 men (96 each) for analysis. We investigated the association of gut microbiome with IIEF-5 between the two groups.

Results

Median age was 50 years. No significant difference was seen in the history of hypertension, DM, CKD, and CVD between the low-IIEF-5 and high-IIEF-5 groups. However, the relative abundance of Alistipes (related with anti-inflammation) and Clostoridium XVIII (related with bowel movement) was significantly different between the two groups. Multivariate logistic analysis demonstrated that the relative abundance of Clostridium XVIII (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.20–3.55, P = 0.009) and Alistipes (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.66–0.99, P = 0.040) and, with an IPSS ≥ 8, were independent factors for low IIEF-5.

Conclusion

We observed significant association between the low-IIEF-5 and high-IIEF-5 groups in Alistipes and Clostoridium XVIII. Further study is necessary to access the causal relationship between the gut microbiome and ED.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the entire staff of the Department of Social Medicine in Hirosaki University for their invaluable help with the data collection. We especially thanks to Takayoshi Hisada (TechnoSuruga Laboratory Co., Ltd.) for valuable advice. The authors would also like to thank Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Grant Nos. 18K16717 and 18K16718) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, 5 Zaifu-chou, Hirosaki, 036-8562, Japan

    Teppei Okamoto, Shingo Hatakeyama, Hayato Yamamoto, Kazuyuki Mori, Takahiro Yoneyama & Chikara Ohyama

  2. Department of Advanced Transplant and Regenerative Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan

    Atsushi Imai, Tohru Yoneyama, Yasuhiro Hashimoto & Chikara Ohyama

  3. Department of Social Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, 5 Zaifu-chou, Hirosaki, 036-8562, Japan

    Shigeyuki Nakaji

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  1. Teppei Okamoto
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Contributions

TO: data analysis, manuscript writing. SH: data analysis, manuscript editing. AI, HY, TY, KM, TY, and YH: data collection. SN and CO: project development.

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Correspondence to Teppei Okamoto.

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Okamoto, T., Hatakeyama, S., Imai, A. et al. The association between gut microbiome and erectile dysfunction: a community-based cross-sectional study in Japan. Int Urol Nephrol 52, 1421–1428 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-020-02443-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-020-02443-9

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