Linchuang shenzangbing zazhi (Jun 2025)
Meta-analysis of changes in erectile function in male renal failure patients after renal transplantation
Abstract
ObjectiveTo systematically analyze the changes in erectile function in male patients with chronic kidney failure undergoing renal transplantation.MethodsArticles reporting erectile function assessed by the International Index of Erectile Function （IIEF） or serum testosterone levels in male patients with chronic kidney failure undergoing renal transplantation published since the establishment of the database were searched in the CNKI， Vip， Wanfang， China Biomedical Literature Database， PubMed， and Embase. Two researchers independently screened the articles， extracted the information， and assessed the quality. Finally， Review Manager 5.3 software was used for statistical analysis.ResultsA total of 17 articles were included. The evaluation of erectile function was based on two primary indices： the IIEF and serum testosterone levels. Twelve studies， involving a collective cohort of 1， 220 patients with renal failure， employed the IIEF to measure changes in erectile function before and after renal transplantation. This analysis demonstrated a statistically significant mean improvement in IIEF scores of 1.93 points post-transplantation. Subsequent subgroup analyses at post-transplantation revealed a mean improvement of 1.75 points at 6 months （SMD=1.75， 95%CI：0.73 to 2.78， P<0.05） and a more pronounced mean improvement of 3.43 points at 12 months （SMD=3.43， 95%CI：1.72 to 5.13， P<0.05）.Ten studies， which encompassed 814 patients with renal failure， assessed the enhancement of erectile function through serum testosterone levels. The results indicated a significant increase in serum testosterone levels post-transplantation compared to pre-transplantation levels， with a mean difference of 1.90 （SMD=1.90， 95%CI：0.98 to 2.83， P<0.01）. Further temporal analysis revealed that at 3， 6， and 12 months at post-transplantation， serum testosterone levels increased by 0.90 （SMD=0.90， 95%CI：0.23 to 1.57， P<0.01）， 0.54 （SMD=0.54， 95%CI：0.19 to 0.89， P<0.01）， and 2.07（SMD=2.07， 95%CI：0.22 to 3.91， P<0.01）， respectively.ConclusionMale patients with chronic kidney failure have improved erectile function after kidney transplantation.
