(340) The Association Between Varicocele and Premature Ejaculation: Systematic Review

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Premature ejaculation (PE) is one of the most common sexual disorders that negatively impacts couple’s satisfaction. Varicocele on the other hand is a highly prevalent condition affecting men population. A higher incidence of PE is observed among patients with varicocele, which incited several authors to evaluate the possible correlation between varicocele and PE. Others went beyond that to investigate whether varicocele repair can lead to an improvement in PE. Objective To systematically review the literature for all the studies exploring the relationship between PE and varicocele. Methods A systemic review was performed utilizing (PRISMA) statement. The PubMed, Google scholar and Scopus databases were used to look for articles published up to June 2023 using the appropriate keywords. Articles reporting an association between the presence of varicocele and PE and exploring changes in ejaculation latency time after varicocele correction were included. Data including study design, sample size, varicocele details, PE diagnostic method, outcome measured and tools used to measure it were collected. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used for assessing the quality of the included studies. Results A total of eight studies were identified, two of them were retrospective and six were prospective. Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) was used as a diagnostic tool for PE in 5 studies, Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT) in 1 study, Chinese Index of Sexual Function for Premature Ejaculation-5 (CIPE-5) scores in 1 study, and subjective assessment in 2 studies. Two studies looked for the prevalence of PE among patients with and without varicocele. Both studies showed a significantly higher frequency of PE among varicocele patients. Whereas six studies evaluated the improvement in ejaculatory function after varicocelectomy; five of them revealed a statistically significant improvement. Quality check: only one study was of strong quality while the remaining 7 studies were of fair quality. Conclusions Limited evidence suggests the presence of positive relation between varicocele and PE. The small number of studies and patients, lack of enough prospective clinical trials, short term follow up, heterogenous study design and absence or diversity in the diagnostic tools used prevent our ability to build strong evidence. For the purpose of supporting the relation and validate it, further prospective studies on a larger number of patients with long-term follow up are needed to reach a solid verdict. Disclosure No.