A nationwide population-based study on bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis and ED

As bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) has been demonstrated to proceed through the inflammatory pathways to cause endothelial dysfunction, and endothelial dysfunction is a major factor in the development of ED, it is possible that BPS/IC may be associated with ED. This study set out to investigate the putative association between ED and BPS/IC by using a population-based data set and case-control design in Taiwan. We obtained the data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Cases included 32 856 ED patients ≥18-years old and 164 280 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to compare the odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of having been previously diagnosed with BPS/IC in cases and controls. Among the total sample of 197 136 subjects, the prevalence of prior BPS/IC was 0.05%. The prevalence of prior BPS/IC was 0.10% and 0.04% for cases and controls, respectively (P