Men with erectile dysfunction (ED) who used sildenafil had a higher risk for serous retinal detachment than those who did not use the drug, a new study finds.

“Our results extend prior claims-based signals of an association between” phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors and serous retinal detachment, the researchers reported.

The absence of associations with retinal vascular occlusion and ischemic optic neuropathy suggest sildenafil’s ocular risks may be specific to serous retinal pathology rather than ischemic events affecting the vessels or optic nerve, they wrote.

The study was led by Jaffer Shah of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. It was published online on February 21 in Eye.

The use of electronic health records may have introduced residual confounding and misclassification of the use of sildenafil.