Scientists in the University of Florence have discovered that depressed men with erectile dysfunction develop risk for cardiovascular related problems.

The research group, which was led by Elisa Bandini, based their study on nearly 2,000 male patients, who were facing erectile dysfunction. The scientist organized the interviews and took the symptoms for depression under consideration.

The link between depression, sexual dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases has further been proved by the results produced by this study. The study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine has discovered that even the medicine for depression did not reduce the risk for a major cardiovascular event.

"Recognizing depressive symptoms in subjects with erectile dysfunction is mandatory not only for improving their sexual life, but also for preventing cardiovascular diseases", said Bandini.

The report in the journal has explained that the risk of a death caused by a heart attack or a heart related problem, doubles for the men, facing erectile dysfunction.

Though, erectile dysfunction is not the only reason behind heart diseases, but they are definitely more vulnerable to it. Scientists gave a list, which consists of three main categories, including age over 45, diabetes and high cholesterol patients. People in these categories are more prone to heart related problems.