The effect of coronavirus disease 2019 severity on male sexual functions among patients on follow-up after hospital discharge

Objectives
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has infected millions of people worldwide with extensive affection and damage to body systems and organs; hence, the study of post-coronavirus disease (COVID) sequences is mandatory. Till now, reports are upcoming on the considerable effects of COVID-19 on male sexual health with no final data.


Patients and methods
Our cohort study included 76 male COVID-19-infected patients, confirmed positive via nasopharyngeal PCR swab. The rationale of this study was to estimate the influence of clinical, laboratory, and radiological severity parameters of COVID-19 on male erectile dysfunction based on erectile scores and male sex hormones (follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, and estradiol).


Results
Our results have demonstrated a highly statistically significant correlation between COVID-19 severity (mild, moderate, and severe cases) and both erectile scores (erection hardness score and International Index of Erectile Dysfunction-5) and testosterone hormones at first and third month after COVID (P<0.001), except for testosterone level at third month and COVID-19 severity, which showed a statistically significant difference, with P value of 0.031.


Conclusions
The current study correlated the effect of COVID-19 severity in the terms of clinical, laboratory, and radiological presentations on male sexual dysfunction (erectile scores and testosterone hormone) at first and third month after hospital discharge, with statistical significance being highly affected in severe rather than moderate and mild cases. This strengthens the obvious effect of COVID-19 infection on male sexual dysfunction.