HealthWatch For May 1: Collegiate Dysfunction
May 01, 2006

A Chicago area study is providing the first evidence of a surprising and potentially dangerous trend: thousands of college age men are using Viagra and other drugs to have sex.

While the products' TV commercials aim at older men, drugs like Levitra, Cialis and Viagra are now showing up on college campuses in surprising numbers.

"In our study, 6 percent of college age males used Viagra or other erectile dysfunction medications," said Dr. Najah Musacchio, of Children's Memorial Hospital.

That's one in every 18 male students. Even more surprising, one in eight of these men say they occasionally are unable to perform during sex.

This was very surprising to us," Musacchio said. "You know, you normally think of these young men as not having any erectile dysfunction."

Musacchio said three Chicago area universities took part in her survey and it's the first scientific evidence of widespread use of impotence drugs in men this young.

She said one of the problems is that students don't get a doctor's advice when they get the pills.

"They get them from a friend or over the Internet," the Musacchio said.

But her chief concern is students who mix the pills with alcohol, crystal meth or marijuana. She says those students have more sex with fewer inhibitions. That may be why only half of those surveyed said they use a condom.

"(That's) not a good thing. You know, sexually transmitted disease is an epidemic in this age group, so anything we can do to find out why these young men are not using condoms would be a good thing," the doctor said.

Musacchio says now they now have to look into why so many students say they have erectile dysfunction.

But she said the survey is good reason for doctors to ask their college age patients about these drugs and to begin advising them on safe sex practices.

Source: http://www.nbc5.com/health/9141722/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=health