Introduction: In addition to "lifelong" and "acquired" premature ejaculation (PE) syndromes, two more PE syndromes have recently been proposed: "Natural variable PE" and "premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction."
Aim: The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of the four PE syndromes among patients who were admitted to a urology outpatient clinic with the complaint of ejaculating prematurely.
Methods: Between July 2008 and March 2009, patients admitted to a urology outpatient clinic with a self-reported complaint of PE were enrolled into the study. After taking a careful medical and sexual history, patients were classified as "lifelong,""acquired,""natural variable," PE or "premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction."
Main outcome measures: In addition to medical and sexual history, self-estimated intravaginal ejaculatory latency times (IELTs) of patients were used in the classification of patients.
Results: A total of 261 potent men with a mean age of 36.39 +/- 10.45 years (range 20-70) were recruited into the study. The majority of the men was diagnosed as having lifelong PE (62.5%); the remaining men were diagnosed as having acquired (16.1%), natural variable PE (14.5%), or premature-like ejaculatory disorder (6.9%). The mean age of patients with acquired PE was significantly higher than the other groups (P = 0.001). No significant difference was observed for educational status or income level of patients in the different PE groups (P = 0.983 and P = 0.151, respectively). The mean self-estimated IELT for all subjects was 65.16 +/- 83.75 seconds (2-420 seconds). Patients with lifelong PE had significantly lower mean self-reported IELT, whereas the patients with premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction had the highest mean IELT (P = 0.001): (i) life-long PE: 20.47 +/- 28.90 seconds (2-120 seconds); (ii) aquired PE: 57.91 +/- 38.72 seconds (90-180 seconds); (iii) natural variable PE: 144.17 +/- 22.47 seconds (120-180 seconds); and (iv) premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction: 286.67 +/- 69.96 seconds (180-420 seconds).
Conclusions: The majority of patients who seek treatment for the complaint of ejaculating prematurely describes lifelong PE. Further population-based studies are required to determine the actual prevalences of these four PE syndromes.