THURSDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) — Frequent sexual intercourse may cut down on a man’s chances of developing erectile dysfunction, Finnish researchers report.

“This is the same as any other part of the body. It’s what we in vascular surgery refer to as the ‘use it or lose it’ concept,” said Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an associate professor of urology at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School Hackensack University Medical Center. “Sexual activity will promote maintenance of normal erectile function down the line.”

The report was published in the July issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

In the study, led by Dr. Juha Koskimaki, from Tampere University Hospital’s Department of Urology, researchers collected data on 989 Finnish men aged 55 to 75 years old.

The researchers found that men who said they had sexual intercourse less than once a week had twice the risk of developing erectile dysfunction, compared with men reporting having sexual intercourse once a week.

Among men who had sexual intercourse less than once a week, there were 79 cases of erectile dysfunction per 1,000 men. That number dropped to 32 cases per 1,000 among men who said they had sexual intercourse once a week, and it dropped even further, to 16 per 1,000, among men who said they had sexual intercourse three or more times a week, the researchers reported.

The frequency of morning erections was not associated with the incidence of moderate erectile dysfunction, the researchers noted.

However, the development of complete erectile dysfunction could be predicted from the frequency of morning erections. Among men with less than one morning erection a week, the risk of developing erectile dysfunction was 2.5-fold greater than among men who had two to three morning erections per week.

“Regular intercourse has an important role in preserving erectile function among elderly men, whereas morning erection does not exert a similar effect,” Koskimaki said in a statement. “Continued sexual activity decreases the incidence of erectile dysfunction in direct proportion to coital frequency.”

Sadeghi-Nejad said there is a scientific basis for this finding, and it also has implications for rehabilitation of patients after prostate cancer treatment.

“What is very hot these days is what we can do to rehabilitate people who develop erection problems after prostate cancer surgery or radiation therapy,” Sadeghi-Nejad said. “Anything you can do to increase oxygenation in the penis will help get patients back to normal.”

If one can naturally engage in behaviors that increase blood flow to the penis, it will have a positive effect in preventing erectile dysfunction, Sadeghi-Nejad said.

Sadeghi-Nejad noted that the study only addressed intercourse, and not masturbation. “This is essentially the same concept,” Sadeghi-Nejad said. “Anything you can do to bring blood to the penis is beneficial,” he added.

More information
For more about sexual dysfunction, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sexual Awareness for Everyone, or the SAFE, program has shown promise in curbing recurrent bouts of common sexually transmitted diseases among high-risk teenage girls, researchers report.

They found that a group of 14- to 18-year-old Mexican-American and African-American girls who participated in the SAFE program were less apt to engage in risky sexual behavior and had a statistically lower incidence of recurrent gonorrhea and Chlamydia infection in the first 6 months and over time, compared with teenage girls in a control group.

The SAFE program also curbed STD reinfection rates and risky sexual behavior among adult women ages 19 and older in the study.

“Although not specifically designed for teens, the SAFE intervention worked very well in this high-risk population,” Dr. Andrea Ries Thurman from University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio and colleagues report in the current issue of the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.]

As part of the SAFE program, teen girls attended small-group meetings on STD prevention. Sessions included role-playing, interactive video, handouts, and group discussion to emphasize a number of preventive strategies such as periodic abstinence, mutual monogamy, correct and consistent use of condoms, the importance of taking prescribed STD medication as directed and avoiding sexual intercourse until finishing the medication, not douching, and seeing their doctor whenever they suspect an STD infection.

The overall goals of the SAFE program are to have participants recognize their risk for contracting STDs including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, commit to changing their risky behavior and acquire the skills needed to be successful, Thurman’s team explains.

The results showed that the cumulative reinfection rate (0-12 months) was roughly 24 percent among teens in the SAFE program compared with 40 percent among teens in the control group who received only 15 minutes of individual STD risk reduction counseling. None of the study teens became infected with HIV during the study.

The cumulative reinfection rate was 12 percent among women ages 19 or older in the SAFE program compared with 18 percent among their counterparts in the control group.

Teenagers as a group had higher rates of STD reinfection (33.1 percent) than adults (14.4 percent), the investigators found, “because the behavior that was most highly and consistently associated with recurrent infection in teens - unprotected sex with untreated partners - was not sufficiently modified by the SAFE intervention.”

Thurman and colleagues conclude that STD prevention interventions for teenagers need to “emphasize skills to help teens ensure their partners are treated or to otherwise refuse intercourse.”

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology, June 2008.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia’s government is worried that high school graduates may not know enough about sex.

Authorities in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation are considering teaching sex education to teenagers when they undergo national service after leaving school, Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, director general of the National Service Department, said Wednesday.

Ng Yen Yen, the minister who announced the proposal, was quoted by the national news agency, Bernama, as saying that sex education, including lectures about preventing AIDS, could shield youngsters from unhealthy activities. Ng’s aide confirmed the minister made the comments Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of boys and girls who are typically 17 or 18 years old are selected at random each year to participate in the government’s national service training.

The three-month mandatory program aims to instill discipline and patriotism through community service, military-style physical training in jungle camps and other activities.

Sex is often a sensitive subject in Malaysia, where unmarried couples can be fined for kissing and hugging in public.

The Cabinet approved guidelines to teach sex education in schools two years ago, but activists say it has not been implemented. Officials had suggested teaching students how to protect themselves from sexual predators, reckless behavior and sexually transmitted diseases.

Adeeba Kamarulzaman, president of the Malaysian AIDS Council, said Wednesday that students receive inadequate information about sex in public schools, which generally only teach basic facts about reproduction during science courses.

Sex education classes in national service could prove useful because many school teachers are too embarrassed to expound on sex-related topics, she said.

“Better late than never,” Adeeba told The Associated Press. “It’s a good opportunity. They are at the right age to be receiving this kind of education.”