Is there any Relationship Between Acquired Premature Ejaculation and Blood Vitamin B12 or Folic Acid Levels?

66 DO I: 10.4274/eamr.galenos.2018.30922 Eur Arch Med Res 2019; 35 (2): 66-70 Halil Lütfi Canat, Recep Burak Değirmentepe, Osman Can, Hasan Anıl Atalay, İlter Alkan, Mehmet Gökhan Çulha, Sait Özbir University of Health Sciences, İstanbul Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, Department of Urology, İstanbul, Turkey ORIGINAL ARTICLE Cite this article as: Canat HL, Değirmentepe RB, Can O, Atalay HA, Alkan İ, Çulha MG, Özbir Sait. Is there any Relationship Between Acquired Premature Ejaculation and Blood Vitamin B12 or Folic Acid Levels?. Eur Arch Med Res 2019; 35 (2): 66-70 Address for Correspondence: Halil Lütfi Canat, University of Health Sciences, İstanbul Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, Department of Urology, İstanbul, Turkey E-posta: drhlcanat@gmail.com ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6481-7907 ©Copyright 2019 by the Health Sciences University, Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital European Archives of Medical Research published by Galenos Publishing House. Received: 08.01.2018 Accepted: 28.01.2018 INTRODUCTION Premature ejaculation (PE) is the most common sexual dysfunction in men (1). Although its prevalence varies according to different criteria, this rate is reported as 4-39% (2). In a crosssectional study carried out in Turkey, the prevalence of PE was found to be 20% (3). However, despite these high prevalence rates, the definition and subtypes of PE are still ongoing. According to the definition made by the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) in 2014, lifelong PE was defined as “ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration from the first sexual experiences” and acquired PE was defined as “a clinically significant and bothersome reduction in latency time, often to about 3 minutes or less”. According to this definition, “the inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations” and “negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy” defined as PE (4). In addition to these definitions, Waldinger (5) classified two distinct subgroups as natural variable PE and subjective PE. Natural variable PE is defined as “PE not always occurring and not seen in every sexual intercourse” and subjective variable is defined as “subjective perception of PE while actually having a normal or even extended ejaculation time”. However, these two subgroups are not considered within the PE definition. Basile Fasolo et al., (6) reported that acquired PE was more common (14.8% vs. 4.5%) than lifelong PE, whereas Serefoglu et al., (7) reported that lifelong PE was more common (62.5% vs. 16.1%). Although the underlying causes of lifelong PE are usually acquired neurobiological dysfunctions, correctable medical pathologies