Prescribing patterns and costs associated with erectile dysfunction drugs in England: a time trend analysis

Background Sildenafil and tadalafil are recommended firstline treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED). Sildenafil was legally reclassified to a ‘pharmacy’ medicine in the UK in 2018.

Aim To assess the prescribing patterns and costs associated with prescribing of ED drugs in England, and to investigate the link between prescribing and deprivation, regional demography, and legal reclassification.

Design & setting Analyses were conducted of publicly available government data from various sources pertaining to primary care prescribing and demographics in England.

Method Prescribing and cost data from January 2009 to November 2019 were extracted and adjusted for inflation, male populations, and regional deprivation.

Results Between 2009 and 2019 the rate of prescribing, measured as the number of items per 1000 men, increased by 110%. In 2019, the rate of prescribing of ED medicines in the most deprived areas was 21.0% higher than the rate observed in least deprived areas. The northern regions of England approximately had a 50% higher rate of prescribing compared with London. A 1.3% annual increase in the number of prescription items was observed between 2018 and 2019 for Sildenafil, with a 5.8% increase observed from 2017–2018.

Conclusion The two-fold increase in the rate of primary care prescriptions in the past 10 years suggests that more men are being screened for, or seeking help for, ED. The higher rate of prescribing offers opportunity for monitoring of linked risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, and vascular disorders, in deprived populations. Reclassification of sildenafil had a modest impact on prescribing practices.