REVEALED: Exact locations in the UK where the MOST and LEAST Viagra is used… so where does your region rank?
Men in Yorkshire are the most likely to need some help in the bedroom in England, NHS data shows.
Official data shows that almost 3.5 percent of men in East Riding were prescribed Viagra, also known by its generic name sildenafil, in 2023.
This was followed by men in Northumberland and Dorset, who each came second and third in terms of prescription rates for the erectile dysfunction drug, each at around 3.2 per cent.
The Yorkshire region appears to be particularly hard hit by impotence, with the towns of Rotherham, Barnsley, Harrogate, Scarborough and Whitby ranking in the top 10 areas for Viagra prescriptions.
At the other end of the spectrum, men in Leicester City seemed the least likely to need help from the little blue pill to maintain an erection, with a prescription rate of just 1.6 percent.
This map shows the areas where people were most and least likely to be prescribed sildenafil, the key ingredient in the NHS erectile dysfunction drug Viagra
Other areas in England with similarly low prescription rates were North West London (1.7 per cent), Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (1.9 per cent).
By comparison, the national rate for sildenafil prescriptions is 2.5 percent across England.
These figures were calculated by examining NHS prescription data collected from England’s 106 Clinical Commissioning Groups, the Sun reported.
In total, around 750,000 men in England received 4.3 million prescriptions for the drugs last year, costing the NHS £16.4 million.
However, the data may not provide a true indication of where men are most dependent on the little blue pill.
Men can buy a course of sildenafil without a prescription for just €15 and tablets are also available directly online for just €1.30 per pill.
Such private purchases of the drug would not be included in the NHS data.
Sildenafil is not only prescribed for erectile dysfunction.
Less known, such medications also treat pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the arteries that supply blood to the lungs.
The same mechanism by which the drugs increase blood flow to the penis also relaxes the blood vessels in the chest, which helps treat pulmonary hypertension.
Gordon Muir, a consultant at London Bridge Hospital, suggested the data may also reflect not only the need for the drugs, but also where people feel most comfortable going to their GP about sexual health.
‘Discussing sexual problems with a GP may be more difficult for some religious or ethnic groups, and some regions may be more sympathetic than others,’ he said.
‘Drugs like sildenafil are safe, cheap and effective.
‘Men who use them, and their partners, experience significant increases in well-being.’
Impotence is no laughing matter and men suffering from this problem are often advised to seek advice from their GP.
Not only can it affect their sexual and mental health. Erection problems can also be a potential sign of serious health problems such as cardiovascular disease.
However, not all men are advised to take medications like sildenafil; for example, people with heart problems are warned not to use it.
About one in 100 people taking sildenafil will experience common side effects when taking sildenafil.
These include headaches, nausea, hot flushes, indigestion, a stuffy nose and dizziness, according to the NHS.
Those who take the pills for longer periods, such as with pulmonary hypertension, are more likely to experience these effects than those who take the pills on an “as needed” basis for erectile dysfunction, the health care system says.
More serious side effects that require urgent medical care are estimated to occur in fewer than one in 1,000 people.
These include seizures, a prolonged and possibly painful erection, especially for more than two hours, chest pain and in very rare cases a life-threatening allergic reaction to the drug called anaphylaxis.
Earlier this year, MailOnline revealed that popular erection pills such as Viagra have been linked to more than 200 deaths in Britain.
None of the fatalities – all of which have occurred since 1998 – have been proven to have been caused directly by the drugs.