The association between Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Peyronie's disease (PD), as well as the impact of DM on PD phenotypes, remains not fully elucidated.
To investigate the association between PD and DM and to assess the impact of DM on the clinical phenotype of PD.
This case-control study retrospectively enrolled 136 PD patients from Department of Andrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine (December 2019 to May 2025) as the case group. Two control groups were established concurrently: andrology patients without PD and healthy examinees. To control for confounding bias, propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the independent association between DM and PD. Furthermore, clinical characteristics were compared between PD patients with and without DM.
This study evaluate the correlation between DM and PD, as well as the clinical manifestations of their comorbidity.
① The prevalence of DM and the proportion of related risk factors were significantly higher in the case group (P < .05). ② After PSM, logistic regression confirmed an independent association between DM and PD (Model 1: OR = 2.815, 95% CI: 1.376-5.989; Model 2: OR = 3.436, 95% CI: 1.823-6.709). ③ Compared to the non-DM subgroup, PD patients in the DM subgroup had a greater number of plaques, higher plaque elasticity, and a larger curvature angle, but reported lower pain scores (all P < .05).
This finding suggests that clinicians should be vigilant for occult yet structurally severe PD in diabetic patients and consider implementing multidisciplinary management strategies.
The strengths of this study lie in its relatively large sample size of PD patients within the field of andrological rare diseases, the dual-control design, and the robust PSM analysis conducted. Limitations include its retrospective, single-center design and the potential for residual confounding factors.
DM is independently associated with PD and is linked to a distinct clinical phenotype characterized by more severe fibrosis (more plaques, greater curvature) but diminished pain perception.
Sexual medicine. 2026 Apr 02*** epublish ***
Yuanyuan Li, Xuewen Diao, Zulong Wang
Department of Andrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450000, Henan, China.