Sexual dysfunction and prostate cancer risk: one more piece of a complex puzzle

been suggested,6 thus highlighting the importance of an overall clinical assessment for patients complaining of sexual disorders. In this context, the findings of Zapata et al.,1 suggesting a quite new correlation between sexual functioning and cancer, certainly deserve further investigation. Indeed, as a case–control study, these findings could be hampered by several recall and selection biases, and above all, the inclusion of a “preselected” population of patients submitted to prostate biopsy according to clinical parameters (e.g., PSA and clinical stage). To this regard, a preconditioning status related to the suspicion of having a cancer which may be per se causative of a psychogenic sexual function impairment should be certainly considered. Moreover, as stated by the Authors, the lack of any hormonal profile assessment could have undervalued the significance of these findings because of the impact of the hormonal milieu in the pathogenesis of both conditions, and mainly for those individuals with a high-risk PCa. Overall, despite these data do allow to draw a final conclusion neither on the potential correlation between SDs and PCa risk nor on the biological reason behind this association, it has eventually added a further piece of science to the theory of sexual function as a proxy of general health status in men, serving as a sentinel marker for several comorbid conditions, finally supporting the importance of a careful clinical assessment of patients complaining for SDs in the real-life scenario.