Viagra for Life-Extension?

A new study suggests the erectile dysfunction drugs may lengthen more than… well…

Alright, let’s get something out of the way. This week, we’re talking about medications for erectile dysfunction and long-term mortality, thanks to this study, appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

And, I know, you think I’m going to be immature about this. Crack jokes. Bad puns, that sort of thing. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this is a serious commentary about a serious study.

Briefly, the researchers found a vas deferens between men treated with phosphodiesterase five inhibitors, like Viagra, and those treated with alprostadil.

OK sorry. I’m done now.

The background here is that it is long-established that ED is associated with bad cardiovascular outcomes — likely because it is a proxy for vascular disease. Prior studies of men with ED found that those receiving PDE5-inhibitors had lower rates of those bad outcomes than men who didn’t get those medications — but comparing men who get ED prescriptions to those who don’t might introduce bias — men getting…