Due to advent of new medications that were highly effective in treating erectile dysfunction in men, there was a dramatic increase in respective visits and diagnosis since the year 1998. So the problem became much more serious, reaching a national scale and resulting in more studies on the actual causes of erectile dysfunction.

Risk factors associated with ED

According to the suggestions provided by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel on Impotence, men participating in a national study have evaluated their own erectile dysfunction by answering the following questions:

How can you describe the quality of your erection for having successful penetrative sex?

There were several answer options, including "always good," "mostly good," "sometimes good," "always bad," and "don't know."

Those who have indicated having "always good" or "mostly good" quality of erection were agreed to not have any erectile problems. Those who have indicated having "sometimes good" or "always bad" quality of erection were classified as having erectile dysfunction. Respondents who have indicated "don't know" as their answer were not taken into account when analyzing the data.

And while it is estimated that every 1 in 5 men is known to have ED, the study put the problem in a less dramatic perspective, especially with respect to age groups. The following are the results of the study according to age demographics:

• Men 20-29: 93.5% with no ED, 6.5% with ED
• Men 30-39: 96.2% with no ED, 3.8% with ED
• Men 40-49: 91.7% with no ED, 8.2% with ED

The study has included men up to 75 years and older. This demographic group had 77% of ED patients.

Besides the most obvious things like age and medication use, erectile dysfunction was also discovered to have the following risk factors according to other demographic variables:

• Hispanic men were twice as likely to suffer from ED then white men.
• Overweight, high blood pressure, alcoholism, smoking and diabetes also raised the risk of ED.

There are different conclusions that can be made according to these numbers. First of all, let's discuss the 77% of ED patients in the age group of 75 and over.

The problem is that it's quite hard to define whether it's a medical condition or it's normal. 77 out of 100 men aged 75 and more are simply unable to have sexual activity like they used to in their 20's and the quality of their erection is relatively unsatisfactory too. But how can you compare a 90 year old body with an 80 year old one? All the functions are different, not only sexual performance, so you should analyze the heart and muscle activity, look into the condition of bones and all key organs in order to compare both these groups.

Of course, with drugs like Cialis and Levitra, older men can have stronger erections too. But the fact that older men buy Cialis to maintain their sexual performance doesn't mean that their sexual abilities are comparable to those of teens.

But what is more interesting is the higher percentage of ED cases in men younger than 30 compared to those who are over 30. This can be explained by the proper control of erectile functions that most men get a hold of in their 30's.