A Practical and Applicable New Index as an Indicator of Inflammation in the Diagnosis of Erectile Dysfunction: C-reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio

Abstract

Current evidence suggests that the significant underlying pathophysiological mechanism in erectile dysfunction (ED) is endothelial dysfunction. It is clinically essential to monitor ED because inflammatory processes lead to dysfunctional endothelium and the progression of atherosclerosis. The current retrospective analysis assessed the registers of 90 patients with ED complaints (ED group) and 78 healthy people without ED complaints (control group) who were being managed at the urology units of the surgical outpatient clinic. The international index of erectile function-5 (IIEF-5) evaluated the ED. C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio (CAR) value was determined by manually dividing serum CRP value by the albumin value in patients whose CRP value was between 0 and 5 mg/l. The average CAR was 0.45 ± 0.37 (ED group) versus 0.22 ± 0.1 in the control group (p=0.0001). IIEF-5 results were negatively correlated with CAR values (r=−0.299; p=0.0001). The strongest cut-off of CAR for predicting ED was 0.025, with 81.8% sensitivity and 75% specificity (p=0.0001). The ED group showed higher levels of CAR and CRP than the control group. CAR can be used as a practical, easy-to-calculate, and cost-effective index in diagnosing ED patients.