MEN who mix Viagra and chest pain medication put their health at risk, a study warns.
Research found blokes who take erection pills and also nitrate medicines for angina are at a higher risk of an early death.
PAMiddle-aged and older men often use heart and erection medications together but do not know the risk, according to experts[/caption]
Both are used a lot by middle-aged and older men in the UK.
Experts at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said both pills reduce blood pressure and it could fall dangerously low when they are used together.
The risk of dying instantly, such as in a cardiac arrest, was not higher but long-term health took a hit.
Study author, Professor Ylva Trolle Lagerros, said: “There is an increasing demand for anti-impotence drugs from men with heart disease.
“Even if these drugs are beneficial for most of those men, those who are also treated with nitrates may expose themselves to an increased risk.”
Around two million people in the UK have angina chest pain, which is caused by reduced blood flow to the heart in people with clogged arteries.
Many are prescribed nitrate drugs such as isosorbide mononitrate and isosorbide dinitrate.
The study, in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found men who used nitrates with erectile dysfunction pills together were 39 per cent more likely to die prematurely than men who just took nitrates.
Heart disease and erectile dysfunction can be caused by the same things because erections need good blood flow.
Obesity, clogged arteries, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure or cholesterol are all linked to both conditions.
The British Heart Foundation says: “Don’t take any medicine for erectile dysfunction without first discussing it with your doctor.”