Introduction: Although previous studies have linked obesity and erectile dysfunction, the novel surrogate indicators of adipose accumulation are more essential and dependable factors to consider. Therefore, the primary objective of the current investigation was to examine and clarify the association between metabolic score for visceral fat (METS-VF) and erectile dysfunction.

Methods: Firstly, multivariate logistic regression analysis, smoothed curve fitting, and threshold effect analysis were employed to investigate the association between METS-VF and erectile dysfunction. Mediation analysis was also performed to evaluate the mediating role of homocysteine and inflammation. After that, subgroup analysis was carried out to examine the stability of the correlation of METS-VF with erectile dysfunction in various population settings. Furthermore, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm were utilized to assess the capability of identifying METS-VF in comparison to the other four obesity-related indicators in identifying erectile dysfunction.

Results: After adjusting for all confounding factors, METS-VF was strongly and favourablely correlated with erectile dysfunction. With each additional unit rise in METS-VF, the prevalence of erectile dysfunction increased by 141%. A J-shaped relationship between METS-VF and erectile dysfunction was discovered through smoothed curve fitting. Marital status, physical activity, and smoking status can potentially modify this association. This finding of the ROC curve suggests that METS-VF had a powerful identifying capacity for erectile dysfunction (AUC = 0.7351). Homocysteine and inflammation mediated 4.24% and 2.81%, respectively.

Conclusion: The findings of the current investigation suggest that METS-VF can be considered a dependable identifying indicator of erectile dysfunction.