LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Reply
Daniel R. Kaiser, PhD,
Kevin Billups, MD,
Carol Mason, NP,
Rebecca Wetterling, BS,
Jennifer L. Lundberg, MS and
Alan J. Bank, MD, FACC
St. Paul Heart Clinic, 255 N. Smith Avenue, Suite 100, St. Paul, MN 55102
(Email: abank{at}stphc.com).
Dr. Montorsi and colleagues express concerns over the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-15 data presented in our study (1). We inadvertently stated that the data presented were the erectile dysfunction (ED) domain of the IIEF-15, but in fact the data cited in our report were an average of each individual domain of the IIEF-15. In response to their letter to the editor we went back to the raw data and calculated both the ED domain of the IIEF-15 and the IIEF-5 (an abbreviated version of the IIEF-15). These results are presented below.
The IIEF-15 domain consists of six questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 15) with a maximum score of 30 and a cut-off of <25 for ED (2). The ED group in our study had an IIEF-15 ED domain score of 16.1 versus 26.8 for the normal group (p = 0.000001).
The IIEF-5 is a validated brief version of the longer questionnaire (questions 2, 4, 5, 7, and 15 of the IIEF-15) (3,4). These five questions have been found to discriminate most highly between men with and without ED. The maximum score for the IIEF-5 is 25, with a cut-off of <21 for ED. The ED group in our study had an IIEF-5 of 12.9 versus 22.3 for the normal group (p = 0.000001).
We appreciate the opportunity to clarify this issue. Based on the results listed above for the ED domain of the IIEF-15 and the IIEF-5, our patients had significant symptoms of ED and our control subjects did not have ED. Therefore, the significance of our original observations is valid, and no further reassessments of the data are warranted.
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References
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- Kaiser DR, Billups K, Mason C, Wetterling R, Lundberg JL, Bank AJ. Impared brachial artery endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation in men with erectile dysfunction and no other clinical cardiovascular disease J Am Coll Cardiol 2004;43:179-184.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Cappelleri JC, Rosen RC, Smith MD, Mishra A, Osterloh IH. Diagnostic evaluation of the erectile function domain of the International Index of Erectile Function Urology 1999;54:346-351.[CrossRef][Medline]
- Rosen RC, Cappelleri JC, Smith MD, Lipsky J, Pena BM. Development and evaluation of an abridged, 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) as a diagnostic tool for erectile dysfunction Int J Impot Res 1999;11:319-326.[CrossRef][Medline]
- Rhoden EL, Teloken C, Sogari PR, Vargas Souto CA. The use of the simplified International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) as a diagnostic tool to study the prevalence of erectile dysfunction Int J Impot Res 2002;14:245-250.[CrossRef][Medline]
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References