Endothelial Dysfunction and Ischemia-Modified Albumin Levels in Males with Diabetic and Nondiabetic Erectile Dysfunction

In this study, we aimed to determine endothelial dysfunction and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels in patients diagnosed with erectile dysfunction (ED) and to examine the relationship between these and diabetes disease. 86 male patients (46 patients with diabetes, age: 51.5 +/- 9.2 and 40 patients with nondiabetes (control group), age: 54.78 +/- 12.2) were included in the study. IMA, a new indicator of tissue ischemia and oxidative stress, was checked. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, another oxidative stress indicator, was examined. Endothelin-1 (ET-1), one of the parameters of endothelial dysfunction, was measured. Additionally, endothelial function was evaluated with flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD). Student's t-test was used for statistical evaluation. p values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. SOD activity was significantly lower in the diabetic group than in the control group, and ET-1 was significantly higher (p < 0.001). IMA was found to be significantly higher in the diabetic group than the control group (p < 0.001). FMD was significantly lower in diabetic group compared to the control group (p < 0.002). According to our findings, the co-occurrence of erectile dysfunction and diabetes demonstrates a complex condition that includes endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and tissue ischemia. When the correlation of indicators, which are markers, was examined, the severity of the co-occurrence of diabetes and erectile dysfunction was again demonstrated.