How Many Men Really Do Have ED?

It’s the big question today: “Just how many men really do have some form of ED?”

The answer is in, “Well researched studies have shown the real number is 72% of all men over the age of 48.”

Sounds believable doesn’t it?

Well, don’t believe it. I made the number up!

But it has been published in a book, on the web, in magazine articles and ads. Surely it must be true.

As if any of that would ensure the truth of statistics. I know. I used to teach stat, and the first lesson would always be on how to lie with statistics.

The real truth is, any skilled researcher with a lot of pressure to find results that support a position can design a study that looks and sounds legitimate, but will give the answers they want to find.

Some of the studies about ED fall into that category, or some variation of it.

Let’s take a look at a couple of studies that are often cited, no names or who did it. These are just examples of studies that have gone wrong, and end up being used as “the gospel truth.”

First one about communication that is so egregiously misquoted, and the legitimate author quoted as saying and proving things he didn’t even do, much less intend to do.

It’s the one about nonverbal communication, saying only 7% of meaning in any conversation was carried by the words that were spoken. This study has been quoted so widely it has literally taken on a force of its own, even with the non-psychological population.  And, then applied to any and all conversations,

Oh if only it were true. Think of how easy it would be to learn a foreign language. How we said words, or even which words we said, didn’t matter as long as we got our facial expressions and our tone of voice congruent with what we wanted to say.  We could drop into another country and be totally understood as we asked for directions to the bathroom, tried to order dinner, or attempted to talk ourselves out of a driving citation.

Put into this context, it is obvious there has been a major misinterpretation of the study results.

A closer look at the study found results that applied in one very tightly controlled, specific situation were applied to the whole area of communications, typically by folks who didn’t do the study, hadn’t read the study, and weren’t even sure where the study came from.

A similar problem has arisen with the studies of the efficacy, effectiveness of ED drugs. One often quoted study focused on a small number of men who went to a medical ED clinic looking for relief.  The results of the study were very interesting. The number of men who went to the clinic who actually had ED was very high, about 75%.

It’s not surprising the number is so large. Most of the men who went to the clinic had already diagnosed their own condition. They went to the clinic because they were either afraid or sure they had ED. OF course, many of them were.

Here’s where it gets a little dicey. This study is now being used to say 75% of all men of a certain age have ED. Of course this is not what the study found.

It found only 75% of the men who went to a medical facility already thinking they had ED were then diagnosed with ED. And 25% of the men who thought they might have ED, didn’t have it.

To make these results apply to the whole population of American men, we’d have to assume all American men routinely go to an ED clinic.

Of course this isn’t true. Most men don’t go near them. The only men who do are those men who are pretty sure they have it,

The bottom line, be careful, be very careful believing any statistics about ED, or any other health issue you have. Look for the level of proof the researchers provide and ask yourself it fits with the who the subjects were, and if it just makes sense.

Remember, the first lesson of statistics is always, how to lie with statistics to get the numbers to say what you want them to be.

Don’t compromise your health with shoddy research results.