Sleep-related penile tumescence as a function of age.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional observational study providing normative baseline data across age groups
PubMed 168790 · doi:10.1176/ajp.132.9.932
What was done
The authors assessed nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) using EEG recordings during sleep in 125 healthy males aged 3 to 79 years to establish normative data across different life stages.
What was found
The abstract reports that NPT occurred consistently across the sample and that expression was significantly affected by age and psychosexual development. The abstract provides no specific numerical values, durations, or statistical test results.
Why it matters
This study provides normative lifespan data on sleep-related erections, supporting the physiological basis for using nocturnal monitoring to distinguish organic from psychogenic erectile dysfunction.
Limits
The abstract contains no quantitative metrics or effect sizes. Details regarding participant recruitment, age-group stratification, exact measurement protocols, and potential confounding factors are absent from the abstract.
Cited by
- supports By a man's 40s, nocturnal erections decrease in duration to about half, maxing out at approximately 30 minutes, while maintaining a frequency of three to five per night.