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Impotent Chinese men too shy to seek help
(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-01 09:57
More than 50 percent of Chinese men over 40 suffer from varying degrees of
impotence and most delay seeking treatment because they are too embarrassed,
according to a nationwide survey.
A couple cuddle on
a park bench in Beijing, oblivious of a worker pulling a cart past them. A
survey shows more than 50 percent of Chinese men over 40 suffer from
varying degrees of impotence. [AFP] | The
six-month study of 1,000 people in major Chinese cities suggested 52.5 percent
of men over 40 suffer from erectile dysfunction to some extent and 90 percent of
those afflicted said their sex lives were badly affected.
The investigation is the country's first authoritative and systematic survey
of men's sexual health, Xinhua news agency said.
Conducted by Jiang Hui, deputy director of the reproductive centre at the
Beijing People's Hospital, it showed embarrassment and shyness deterred most
sufferers from seeking medical help.
Patients on a national average only saw a doctor 22 months after the first
symptoms occurred, compared to the average six months in the West, the report
said.
Those in big cities delay treatment even longer. Beijing men wait 34.3 months
while Shanghai men wait 30.4 months before seeking professional help.
"The unnecessary delay misses the best time for treatment and allows the
disease to deteriorate," Jiang was quoted as saying.
Wang Yixin, professor with the Shanghai Andrology Research Centre, said 90
percent of affected patients do not seek help because of shyness, feelings of
humiliation and worries over confidentiality.
He said 80 percent of impotence cases in China stemmed from physical problems
while the rest related to psychological issues, such as tension, anxiety and
depression.
"The idea that erectile dysfunction is incurable is totally wrong," Wang
said. "Most patients can enjoy normal sex lives after appropriate treatments."
He said expensive treatment drugs was another "major barrier" to Chinese
patients.
Viagra, a product of US manufacturer Pfizer Inc, costs nearly 100 yuan (12
dollars) for each tablet.
Earlier this month, Chinese media reports said 17 pharmaceutical companies
would jointly produce a local variant of Viagra that would cost half the price
of the US product.
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