The DOI matches its Crossref record; 73 of the 77 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Erectile Dysfunction and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Background Some studies have reported that exposure to depression increases the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED), whereas others have observed no association. Moreover, additional studies have reported that exposure to ED increases the risk of depression. Aim To identify and quantitatively synthesize all studies evaluating the association between ED and depression and to explore factors that may explain differences in the observed association. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched Medline, Ovid Embase, and the Cochrane Library through October 2017 for studies that had evaluated the association between ED and depression. Studies were included in accordance with Patient Population or Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Setting (PICOS) inclusion criteria. Outcomes The odds ratio (OR) was regarded as the effect size, and the heterogeneity across studies was assessed using the I2 statistic. Results We identified 49 eligible publications. The pooled OR for studies evaluating depression exposure and risk of ED was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.35–1.42; n = 46 publications with 48 studies). Although we observed large heterogeneity (I2 = 93.6%), subgroup analysis indicated that it may have been as a result of variations in study design, comorbidities, ED assessment, depression assessment, the source of the original effect size, etc. No significant publication bias was observed (P = .315), and the overall effect size did not change by excluding any single study. The pooled OR for studies evaluating ED exposure and risk of depression was 2.92 (95% CI: 2.37–3.60; n = 5 publications with 6 studies). No significant heterogeneity (P < .257, I2 = 23.5%) or publication bias (P = .260) was observed. Clinical Implications Patients reporting ED should be routinely screened for depression, whereas patients presenting with symptoms of depression should be routinely assessed for ED. Strengths and Limitations There are several strengths to this study. First, evaluations of the association between ED and depression are timely and relevant for clinicians, policymakers, and patients. Second, we intentionally conducted 2 meta-analyses on the association, allowing us to include all potentially relevant studies. However, our study also possesses some limitations. First, the OR is a measure of association that only reveals whether an association is present. Thus, this study was unable to determine the direction of causality between ED and depression. Second, the high heterogeneity among studies makes it difficult to generalize the conclusions. Conclusion This study demonstrates an association between depression and ED. Policymakers, clinicians and patients should attend to the association between depression and ED.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Regarding depression, several studies have suggested a reciprocal relationship with ED.”
From A Psychosocial Approach to Erectile Dysfunction: Position Statements from the European Society of Sexual Medicine (ESSM) (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
In the citing paper
“Patients with depression have generally lower levels of energy and lack interest or motivation (ie, anhedonia).46”
From A Psychosocial Approach to Erectile Dysfunction: Position Statements from the European Society of Sexual Medicine (ESSM) (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
In the citing paper
“The prevalence of ED is almost 5-fold higher in men with depression and, vice versa, men with ED often report higher rates of depression.44, 45, 46”
From A Psychosocial Approach to Erectile Dysfunction: Position Statements from the European Society of Sexual Medicine (ESSM) (2021) · cites this paper as [46]
Citations
Cites
Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses
Higgins, J. P. T., Thompson, S. G., Deeks, J. J., & Altman, D. G. (2003) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7414.557 · Cited by 63,139
Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P. J., Kleijnen, J., & Moher, D. (2009) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100 · Cited by 28,164
Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology<SUBTITLE>A Proposal for Reporting</SUBTITLE>
Stroup, D. F. (2000) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.283.15.2008 · Cited by 20,623
ROBINS-I: a tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions
Sterne, J. A., Hernán, M. A., Reeves, B. C., Savović, J., Berkman, N. D., Viswanathan, M., Henry, D., Altman, D. G., Ansari, M. T., Boutron, I., et al. (2016) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.i4919 · Cited by 20,329
Liberati, A., Altman, D. G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P. C., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P. J., Kleijnen, J., & Moher, D. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.006 · Cited by 10,578
(1993) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.1993.03510010089036 · Cited by 1,629
Bacon, C. G., Mittleman, M. A., Kawachi, I., Giovannucci, E., Glasser, D. B., & Rimm, E. B. (2003) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-139-3-200308050-00005 · Cited by 832
Martín‐Morales, A., Sánchez-Cruz, J. J., de Tejada, I. S., Rodriguez-Vela, L., Jiménez-Cruz, J. F., & BURGOS-RODRIGUEZ, R. (2001) · The Journal of Urology · doi:10.1016/s0022-5347(05)65986-1 · Cited by 548
Atlantis, E., & Sullivan, T. (2012) · The Journal of Sexual Medicine · doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02709.x · Cited by 472
Erectile Dysfunction and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
Dong, J.-Y., Zhang, Y., & Qin, L.-Q. (2011) · Journal of the American College of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2011.06.024 · Cited by 453
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–213 of 213
Ward, B., Thompson, A., Rhodes, S., Tomaszewski, A., & Thirumavalavan, N. (2026) · The Journal of Sexual Medicine · doi:10.1093/jsxmed/qdag158
Erectile dysfunction - a retrospective statistical analysis
Hujová, A., & Broul, M. (2026) · Česká urologie · doi:10.48095/cccu2026012
Abbosov, S. A., Makhmudov, A. T., Tulaboev, A., Aliev, S., Shomarufov, A. B., Shavakhabov, S. S., & Akilov, F. A. (2026) · Urology Herald · doi:10.21886/2308-6424-2026-14-2-77-89
Mesfin, T. (2026) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.72811
ЕРЕКТИЛЬНА ДИСФУНКЦІЯ: СЬОГОДЕННЯ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ЛІКУВАННЯ
Boiko, M. I. (2026) · Men’s Health Gender and Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.37321/ujmh.2026.1-01
LUTS, ED and PE: Common Pathogenic Pathways and New Treatment Options
Atmoko, W., Chung, E., & Nguyen, Q. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-29112-7_21
Qiao, X., Li, Y., 苏燕嫦, Li, Y., Wu, Y., Zhang, B., Liu, Y., Bao, Y., Wan, Y., & Shi, X. (2026) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2026.181473
Zmysłowska, K., Hajdaniak, A., Szatkowska, A., Kwaśniewska, M., Kiersztyn, J. M., Grabowska, A., Seńcio, N., & Stadnik, K. A. (2026) · International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science · doi:10.31435/ijitss.3(51).2026.6571
Zhang, Z., Jiang, T., Dai, Y.-T., Zhang, X., Huang, Y., Zhang, X.-S., Zhou, H.-L., Juan, J.-X., Duan, H., & Jiang, H. (2026) · Asian Journal of Andrology · doi:10.4103/aja202622
Izah, S. C., Dunga, K. E., Aseibai, E. R., Etim, N. G., Ogwu, M. C., Promise, V. I., Alum, E. U., & Ohanusi, I. N. (2026) · Frontiers in Endocrinology · doi:10.3389/fendo.2026.1922443
Güleser, A. S., EREN, A., Altunrende, F., Çağlar, U., & Özgör, F. (2026) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina62101966
Günay, N. F., Dizdaroğlu, Ç., Gelmiş, M., Erdal, F. S., & Özgör, F. (2026) · Hitit Medical Journal · doi:10.52827/hititmedj.1927973
Vorobets, M. Z., Vorobets, D. Z., Фафула, Р. В., Besedina, A. S., Fedorovych, Z., Galyk, G. V., Vorobets, Z. D., & Чемерис, О. М. (2026) · Regulatory Mechanisms in Biosystems · doi:10.15421/0226122
Metadata
- Authors
- Liu, Q., Zhang, Y., Wang, J., Li, S., Cheng, Y., Guo, J., Tang, Y., Zeng, H., & Zhu, Z.
- Affiliations
- Wuhan Union Hospital (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhu, Zhaohui
- Venue
- The Journal of Sexual Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-06-27
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1073-1082
- ISSN
- 1743-6095 (ISSN-L)
- 1743-6109
- OpenAlex
- W2810937690
- Cited by
- 215
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 2.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Journal of Sexual Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Sexual function and dysfunction studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Urology › Urological Disorders and Treatments
- Keywords
- erectile dysfunction, depression, bidirectional relationship, comorbidities, depression screening, causal direction, study heterogeneity, depression assessment, sex differences, age differences, mental health, cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle factors, psychological factors, biological factors, psychosocial factors, neuroendocrine factors, neuroinflammation
- MeSH terms
- Depression, Humans, Erectile Dysfunction, Male, Odds Ratio
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review