One in three Japanese men responding to a recent survey said they suffer from erectile dysfunction, according to data presented Sunday at the sixth Asian Congress of Sexology held in Kobe.
In a nationwide survey conducted in April, the Japanese Society for Impotence Research questioned 5,500 Japanese men and 4,800 women.
According to the results, 29.9 percent of men said they suffer from ED, while 30.1 percent of women said they believe their partners do.
The survey also shows that only 4.8 percent of men with ED said they had consulted doctors in the past.
Regarding their sex lives, 59.9 percent of women with non-ED partners said they are "very" or "somewhat" satisfied.
On the contrary, only 23.6 percent of women with ED partners responded that they are satisfied with their sex lives.
"While a lot of men are suffering from ED, many appear too embarrassed to see a doctor about it," said Yukie Takimoto, a professor at Nihon University's medical department and organizer of the survey.
Masafumi Shirai, director of the JSIR, said people in Japan tend to regard ED as not being an illness.
Shirai also attributed the low rate of men receiving professional treatment to scarce information from doctors. He said doctors should make efforts to improve the situation.