Traditional and complementary medicine (T/CM) in the treatment of erection difficulties – experience from the Asian Men's Attitudes To Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) study

Abstract 

Background

Little is known about the practice, perceptions and experience of using traditional and complementary medicine (T/CM) for erection difficulties among Asian men.

Methods

A total of 10,934 Asian men living in China (n=2,055), Japan (n=877), Korea (n=2,000), Malaysia (n=3,000) or Taiwan (n=2,002) were recruited via random digit dialing, street interception and face-to-face interview in the Asian Men's Attitudes To Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) Phase I study. The Phase II study was comprised of a total of 1,286 men who experienced erection difficulties and who lived in China (n=255), Japan (n=228), Korea (n=225), Malaysia (n=380) or Taiwan (n=228).

Results

Use of T/CM for erection difficulties (9.1%) was relatively low compared to conventional medicine (83.5%). Among those that seek help and treatment from T/CM, the majority were respondents from Malaysia, followed by respondents from China, whereas respondents from Japan and Korea ranked lowest. Use of a combination of alternative and conventional therapy was prevalent. Erection difficulty was amongst the highest in terms of preference of treatment seeking using traditional approaches after back pain, arthritis and gout. Overall outcome was expressed as ‘Partly satisfied’ with T/CM treatment for erection difficulties. The main reason that T/CM outweighs conventional medicine was because it was perceived that T/CM had fewer side effects than conventional medicine (56.1%). Users of T/CM were mostly middle-aged, married, employed, and perceived their health status and the severity of their erection dysfunction as moderate.

Conclusions

The findings help to identify the differences in practices and beliefs about T/CM among Asian countries and provide useful information to conventional practitioners about the alternative help- and treatment-seeking behaviors for erectile difficulties.

Keywords: Traditional and complementary medicine, Asian men, Erection difficulties