Premature Ejaculation Finally Gets Defined

22 May 2008
Premature Ejaculation Finally Gets Defined
by George Atkinson

Sexual health experts from ten countries have teamed up to develop the first ever agreed definition of lifelong premature ejaculation in the hope that it will aid future diagnosis, treatment and research. Their findings have just been published in the journals BJU International and The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The new definition was developed after lengthy evaluation of more than 100 studies on premature ejaculation published over the last 65 years. It was unanimously agreed by the experts that the definition should be a combination of three key factors:

• Ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to, or within, about one minute of vaginal penetration.

• The inability to delay ejaculation on all, or nearly all, vaginal penetrations.

• Negative personal consequences such as distress, bother, frustration or the avoidance of sexual intimacy.

The researchers stress that the new definition applies only to premature ejaculation that is suffered throughout a man's life and not "acquired premature ejaculation", which develops at a stage in a man's life rather than being a life-long problem. It is believed that psychological or relationship problems, erectile dysfunction, an inflamed prostate gland or thyroid dysfunction can trigger acquired premature ejaculation. They also noted that more research is needed into the issues faced by homosexual men as there is insufficient evidence to develop a definition for this patient group.

"Premature ejaculation has been a recognized condition for many years and the first topical anesthetic cream to delay ejaculation was described as far back the 1930s," explains definition co-author Dr Chris G McMahon, from the Australian Centre for Sexual Health in Sydney. "Clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry have been paying more attention to the psychosocial consequences of premature ejaculation but what has been lacking is a consensus on how lifelong premature ejaculation should be defined. As a result everyone - from urologists and clinicians working in sexual medicine to the pharmaceutical industry - have been working to different parameters."

Because the definition has not been put into practice yet, it is not possible to quantify retrospectively how many men fall into the lifelong category. However, previous research has suggested that as many as 35 percent men suffer from premature ejaculation of some kind, making it even more common than erectile dysfunction. Unlike erectile dysfunction, which increases with age, premature ejaculation affects men more or less equally across all age ranges.

Related:
Premature Ejaculation Affects Many
New Treatment For Premature Ejaculation
Premature Ejaculation Research Yields Some Surprises

Source: The Journal of Sexual Medicine