Re: Prevalence of ejaculatory disorders in urban men-results of a random-sample survey

Abstract

With great interest, we read the article by Vakalopouloset al. (2011), which evaluated the prevalence of ejacula-tory disorders in Greek urban men. After reflection, thereare several concerns that deserve further discussion andexplanation.First, the title is inaccurate. The authors use the term‘ejaculatory disorders’, but should consider using the term‘early ejaculation disorders’ (EED), as ejaculatory disorderis too broad in respect to this article. ‘Ejaculatory disor-ders’ encompasses not only EED, but also anejaculation,delayed ejaculation, retrograde ejaculation and painfulejaculation (Colpi et al., 2004). The authors state that thedefinition of the prevalence of lifelong PE according tothe International Society for Sexual Medicine has not yetbeen determined. However, in a recent peer-reviewedpublication, the prevalence of lifelong PE was noted to be2.3% (Serefoglu et al., 2011), which also matches thefindings of Waldinger (2008) who estimated the preva-lence at 2–5%. In the present study, the authors deter-mine the prevalence of lifelong PE to be 17.7%, which ismuch higher than expected and determined by otherrecent research. Further clarification is needed to explainthis discrepancy.In conclusion, we have a number of questions that theauthors should address to help the readers interpret thedata. What differentiates lifelong PE from the other PEsyndromes? Similarly, what were the criteria for definingEED? What were the ranges of intravaginal ejaculationlatency times (IELT) for EED and lifelong PE?A. Gokce, E. C. Serefoglu & W. J. G. HellstromTulane University School of Medicine – Urology,New Orleans, LA, USAE-mail: whellst@tulane.eduReferenceColpi G, Weidner W, Jungwirth A, Pomerol J, Papp G, Harg-reave T, Dohle G (2004) EAU guidelines on ejaculatory dys-function. Eur Urol 46:555–558.Serefoglu EC, Yaman O, Cayan S, Asci R, Orhan I, Usta MF,Ekmekcioglu O, Kendirci M, Semerci B, Kadioglu A (2011)Prevalence of the complaint of ejaculating prematurely andthe four premature ejaculation syndromes: results from theTurkish Society of Andrology Sexual Health Survey. J SexMed 8:540–548.Vakalopoulos I, Dimitriadis G, Varnava C, Herodotou Y,Gkotsos G, Radopoulos D (2011) Prevalence of ejaculatorydisorders in urban men: results of a random-sample survey.Andrologia 43:327–333.Waldinger MD (2008) Premature ejaculation: advantages of anew classification for understanding etiology and prevalencerates. Sexologies 17:30–35.