A Longitudinal Analysis of Premature Ejaculation Symptoms Raises Concern Regarding the Appropriateness of a "Lifelong" Subtype

Premature ejaculation (PE) is divided into acquired and lifelong subtypes, with the implication that the latter is chronic. This longitudinal study included data for untreated respondents from a population-based sample (sample 1) and a sample of patients diagnosed with lifelong PE (sample 2). About half of the respondents who at time 1 fulfilled the most important diagnostic criterion for lifelong PE (≤1minute ejaculation latency) no longer did so at time 2. Standardised autoregressive coefficients for PE symptom measures were 0.58 for sample 1, 0.83 for sample 2, and 0.37 for individuals with ejaculatory latencies ≤1minute. A subjective perception of change in ejaculatory latency was reported by 47% (n=397) of sample 1 and 62% (n=10) of sample 2. PE symptoms were in general unstable over time, which raises concern regarding the appropriateness of the "lifelong" diagnosis.

Patient summary: We looked at the stability of symptoms of premature ejaculation (PE) over time. We found that PE symptom severity varies considerably, and to a lesser but still considerable degree in patients diagnosed with lifelong PE. Our results suggest that there is reason to doubt the appropriateness of the term lifelong PE.