Same RV, et al. – Researchers analyzed men aged 40 to 60 years being treated for erectile dysfunction (ED), to assess the prognostic effect of maximal exercise capacity on cardiovascular–related outcomes, presuming an independent link between higher baseline fitness level and lower cardiovascular events. They reported that in these subjects, an association existed, between higher baseline fitness and improved cardiovascular prognosis.

Methods

• Researchers assessed 1152 men with pharmacy claims file–confirmed active pharmacologic treatment for ED from the Henry Ford Exercise Testing (FIT) Project (1991–2009).
• All patients were free of coronary heart disease and heart failure, and underwent clinician-referred exercise stress testing, with fitness measured in metabolic equivalents of task (METs).
• They used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors to study the link between fitness and all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (defined as myocardial infarction or revascularization), and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Results

• Data reported that the mean age of the population was 53 years, with 39% African Americans.
• Researchers observed that in multivariable analysis, each 1 MET of fitness was associated with a 16% lower risk of death (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.76-0.94, P = 0.002), and a nonsignificant reduction in MACE (HR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.79-1.003, P = 0.048), and incident diabetes (HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.85-1.01, P = 0.129).