The relationship between anxiety, depression and religious coping strategies and erectile dysfunction in Iranian patients with spinal cord injury

Objectives: To assess the role of anxiety, depressive mood and religious coping in erectile function among Iranian patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Repair Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Methods: A sample of N=93 men with SCI participated in this cross-sectional study. Levels of anxiety and depressive mood were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Religious coping strategies were measured using the 14-items Brief Coping Questionnaire. Erectile function was assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function. The joint effect of anxiety, depressive mood and religious coping strategies on erectile function was assessed by performing stepwise multiple linear regression analyses. Results: The mean age of the SCI patients was 37.8 years with a mean post-injury time of 4.6 years. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that age (B=-0.27, 95% CI=-0.47 to -0.07), education (B for higher education=0.63, 95% CI=0.24 to 1.02), the American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale (B for complete impairment=-3.36, 95% CI=-3.82 to -2.89), anxiety (B=-3.56, 95% CI=-5.76 to -1.42), positive religious coping (B=0.30, 95% CI=0.03 to 0.57), negative religious coping (B=-0.56, 95% CI=-0.82 to -0.29) and the duration of injury (B=-0.25, 95% CI=-0.22 to -0.29) were all independent factors influencing erectile function in SCI patients. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicated that SCI patients who use positive religious coping strategies had better erectile function compared with individuals who applied negative religious coping strategies. Furthermore, higher levels of anxiety, greater impairment and longer duration of injury turned out to be risk factors for erectile dysfunction.