The Female Experience of Men’s Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (FEMALES) study and erectile dysfunction: association between female-partner attitudes and male-partner treatment-seeking behaviour and treatment utilisation

Lee, J⁽¹⁾; Fisher, W⁽²⁾; Eardley, I⁽³⁾; McCabe, M⁽⁴⁾; Sand, M⁽⁵⁾

⁽¹⁾Rockyview General Hospital, Alberta, Canada ⁽²⁾University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; ⁽³⁾Pyra Department of Urology, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, UK ⁽⁴⁾Department of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia ⁽⁵⁾Bayer Schering Pharma, Wuppertal, Germany

Introduction/Objective: Many men with erectile dysfunction (ED) do not seek treatment or discontinue treatment prematurely despite the availability of effective therapies. Female partners of men with ED may influence the man’s decision to initiate and adhere to treatment. The Female Experience of Men’s Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (FEMALES) study investigated the association between female partner attitudes towards their partner’s ED and the likelihood of men seeking medical advice and utilising phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor treatment.
Materials and Methods: The FEMALES study recruited the female partners of men with ED who participated in the Men’s Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) study and who provided consent for their partners to be contacted. A modified version of the questionnaire used in the MALES study was developed. For each participating couple (n=293), responses to questions in the MALES and FEMALES questionnaires were compared.
Results: Both men’s treatment-seeking behaviour and their PDE-5 inhibitor use was significantly associated with the woman’s belief that her partner’s ED was either permanent or severe (p<0.005). If the woman believed her partner’s ED was permanent or severe, her partner was more likely to have discussed his erection difficulties with a doctor and to have tried treatment with a PDE-5 inhibitor. A number of other significant associations were noted. For example, there was a highly significant association between the women’s level of satisfaction with her sexual relationship before the onset of ED and men’s treatment seeking behaviour (p<0.0001), i.e. the higher the level of satisfaction prior to ED, the more likely the man was to consult a doctor.
Conclusions: Female partner attitudes towards ED play an important role in men’s treatment-seeking behaviour and PDE-5 inhibitor utilisation. The integration of the female partner into ED consultations and treatment strategies should be encouraged.