ArticleInvestigative and clinical urology2025
COVID-19 infection may reduce serum testosterone levels and increase the risk of erectile dysfunction: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.
Article in Investigative and clinical urology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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3 authors.
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Abstract
purposeCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection may affect serum hormones levels and male sexual function. This study aims to provide evidence for the causal relationship between COVID-19 infection, serum testosterone levels and the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. MATERIALS AND
methodsSummary-level data for serum testosterone levels (199,569 samples and 12,321,875 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) were obtained from Rebecca's study, while data for ED (6,175 cases and 217,630 controls) were sourced from Bovijn's study. Genetic variations linked to COVID-19 were used as instrumental variables (IVs) in meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) involving 6,406 cases and 902,088 controls from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was primarily employed to evaluate the potential associations between COVID-19 infection, serum testosterone levels, and the risk of ED. The weighted mode, weighted-median and simple-median method were employed to evaluate the sensitivity. Heterogeneity and pleiotropic outlier were assessed using Cochran's Q test and MR-Egger regression.
resultsThe MR analysis demonstrated that COVID-19 infection was associated with reduced serum testosterone levels (odds ratio [OR] 0.966, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.938-0.993, p=0.016) and an increased risk of ED (OR 1.205, 95% CI 1.063-1.367, p=0.004) when using IVW methods. Sensitivity analyses utilizing various IV sets and MR approach remained consistent.
conclusionsCOVID-19 infection is associated with a decrease in serum testosterone levels and an increased risk of ED. Male patients recovering from COVID-19 need to pay special attention to their sex hormone levels and sexual health.
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