Introduction
A higher prevalence of hyperthyroidism in patients with premature
ejaculation (PE) has been reported; treatment of hyperthyroidism in a
small group of patients resulted in improved outcomes by means of
patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures related to PE and the mean
intra-vaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) of the subjects (Carani et
al., 2005; Cihan, Demir, et al., 2009; G. Corona et al., 2004). On the
other hand, delayed ejaculation (DE) has been observed in a large
proportion of hypothyroidism patients; the mean IELT is also improved
with the treatment of the thyroid disorder itself (Carani et al., 2005).
In the same decade, it has also been clarified that there is no
association with very low prevalence rates between thyroid dysfunction
and lifelong PE in patients with normal erectile function (Waldinger,
Zwinderman, Olivier, & Schweitzer, 2005). The aforementioned findings
led to recommendations such as “thyroid hormone disorders should be
suspected in ejaculatory disorders” with low certainty (Buvat et al.,
2010). However, evidence from animal studies supports the presence of at
least modulatory effects of thyroid hormones on the ejaculatory reflex
operated from the central nervous system (Cahangirov et al., 2011;
Cihan, Murat, et al., 2009; Cinar et al., 2018). We aimed to clarify the
clinical evidence supporting the possible causality between thyroid
dysfunction and EjD and the scientific background that supports the
investigation of thyroid function in patients suffering from EjD.