Dr. Greenberg on sexual dysfunction trends among male physicians

In this video, Daniel Greenberg, MD, highlights the background and notable findings from the study, “Prevalence of sexual dysfunction and pursuit of sexual medicine evaluation among male physicians,” which was presented at the 24th Annual Fall Scientific Meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America in San Diego, California. Greenberg is a urology resident at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

Video Transcript:

There's the age-old anecdote that physicians sometimes make the worst patients. What we're trying to look at is, among male physicians, are they seeking care for sexual dysfunction, ejaculatory issues, and men's health issues overall. If they're receiving care, what are they getting care for, and if they're not receiving care, what are the barriers that are preventing them from reaching out to a health care professional. We sent out a survey through both social media as well as through professional societies. We received responses for over 200 male physicians, which is a pretty robust cohort. Our average age was relatively young at 35 years of age. We found that about 25% of these men had either sought treatment for a men's health issue or a sexual issue or had wanted to seek care. The most common presenting issue was erectile dysfunction. The most common reasons that these men did not seek care were somewhat unsurprising, but also surprising as well. One was related to time, just finding time to seek care through a busy schedule. And some that were a little bit less intuitive, like being too familiar with the health care system, fear of embarrassment, or knowing too many of the providers that would be the ones providing their care. So, we hope to overcome that and allow these men to get the care that they need and hopefully meet this unmet need and address this issue.

This transcription has been edited for clarity.