Propranolol and Sexual Impotence

To the editor: We wish to call attention to propranolol as an additional cause of drug-induced erectile dysfunction that was not listed by Levine in a recent review of this subject (Ann Intern Med85:342-350, 1976). Although sexual impotence is not mentioned as an adverse effect of propranolol in thePhysician's Desk Reference, this effect has been reported in patients on high-dose (average of 255 mg/day) propranolol therapy for angina pectoris (1). A recent single case report in this journal comments on this adverse effect as well (2). In the past 2 years, 95 men with angina, or hypertension, or...