Peyronie's disease and autoimmunity-a real-life clinical study and comprehensive review

Introduction: Although heavily investigated over the last decades, Peyronie's disease (PD) pathogenesis remains unclear. Aim: We sought to investigate the association between PD and autoimmune diseases (ADs) in men seeking medical help for sexual dysfunction in the real-life setting. Methods: Complete sociodemographic and clinical data from a homogenous cohort of 1,140 consecutive Caucasian-European men were analyzed. Health-significant comorbidities were scored with the Charlson Comorbidity Index and ADs were stratified according to International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision classification. Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression models tested the association between ADs and PD. Results: PD was diagnosed in 148 (13%) of the 1,140 men; of PD patients, 14 (9.5%) had a comorbid AD; conversely, the rate of ADs in non-PD patients was significantly lower (χ2=24.7; P<0.01). Both patient age and AD comorbidity achieved multivariable independent predictor status for PD (odds ratio [OR]: 1.05; P<0.01 and OR: 4.90; P<0.01, respectively). Conclusions: Our observational findings showed that ADs are highly comorbid with PD in a large cohort of same-race individuals seeking medical help for sexual dysfunction in the real-life setting. Ventimiglia E, Capogrosso P, Colicchia M, Boeri L, Serino A, La Croce G, Russo A, Capitanio U, Briganti A, Cantiello F, Mirone V, Damiano R, Montorsi F, and Salonia A. Peyronie's disease and autoimmunity-A real-life clinical study and comprehensive review. J Sex Med 2015;12:1062-1069.