An Elderly Man on a Cycle A research reported at the American Urological Association meeting in Anaheim says that an expanding waistline in older men is generally associated with worsening lower urinary tract symptoms and poorer sexual function.

Steven A. Kaplan from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, noted that waist size is one component of the so-called metabolic syndrome. This signifies an elevated risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Kaplan said, “It is becoming very clear that when you have multiple components of the metabolic syndrome you can bet that you will have components of pelvic dysfunction, which we would define as sexual dysfunction and voiding dysfunction.”