Do oral antiviral drugs used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B cause erectile dysfunction?

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The effect of antiviral drugs on the erectile dysfunction (ED) problem expressed by some patients using antiviral drugs due to chronic hepatitis B infection (HBV) was investigated. METHODS: A total of 102 male patients receiving antiviral therapy for HBVinfection without any known non-cirrhotic and comorbid disease that may cause ED and whodon't use any drugs with an ED formation potential were analyzed through the InternationalIndex of Erectile Function test. RESULTS: Among the patients admitted to the study, anxiety disorder was detected as 24.5% (n = 25) and depression as 46.1% (n = 47). 70.6% (n = 72) of the patients suffered ED. Severe ED was only detected in 3 (n = 2.9%) patients. ED was detected in 70.6% of the entecavir, 64.2% of tenofovir, and 80% of Tenofovir alafenamide users ( P  = 0.287). On the other hand, the logistics regression analysis revealed that the most important factors that increase the risk of ED are age (>55 age; RR 2.66; P  < 0.001), and anxiety disorder (RR 2.30; P  < 0.0001). The cumulative effect of antiviral drugs on ED was 5.7% (RR 0.8; P  = 0.156). CONCLUSION: We could not find any mounting evidence relating to the effect ofcommonly used antiviral drugs for hepatitis B causing ED. The incidence rate of ED on ourpatients was at a similar rate with population studies in the literature based on society. It is notappropriate to terminate antiviral therapy in hepatitis B for this reason.