PILLAR M · ED ASSESSMENT
ED Assessment · IIEF-5
Five questions from the validated International Index of Erectile Function, scored instantly into the standard severity bands — and an honest reading of what those bands do and do not mean.
- QUESTIONS
- 5
- SCORE RANGE
- 5–25
- TIME
- 2min
- STORED HERE
- 0bytes
WHAT THIS IS
The five-question screen clinics actually use
The IIEF-5 (short form of the International Index of Erectile Function) is a summed 5–25 score with published severity bands — quick enough for a waiting room, specific enough to start a conversation.
Answer for the past few months of sexual activity rather than the last encounter — one bad night, a new partner, a flight or a fever all move a single session without saying anything about function. Add up the five answers (each is worth 1–5) and the total falls into one of five bands:
- 5–7SEVERE
- 8–11MODERATE
- 12–16MILD-TO-MODERATE
- 17–21MILD
- 22–25NO ED
Not sexually active right now?
Then the inventory does not apply. It measures function during sexual activity, so abstaining or having no partner produces a low score that reflects absence, not dysfunction. Skip the quiz and come back when the questions have something to describe.Screening, never diagnosing
A band is a starting point for a conversation with a clinician who can examine you and read your bloods. It cannot tell you the cause, and it is not a label to carry around — it is five numbers, kept in this tab, discarded when you close it.QUIZ
The five questions
One at a time, five answer options each. Change an answer whenever you like — going back never clears what you picked.
Answer for the body you have, not the one you were promised
If a question does not apply to your situation this month — no partner, illness, a new medication — pick the honest closest answer and mention the context to a clinician rather than adjusting the score yourself.RESULT
Your score
Total 5–25, banded the way the IIEF-5 is banded in clinics. A band is a starting point for a conversation — never a diagnosis.
No score yet
Finish the five questions and your band appears here — with what it means, what it does not mean, and the next step.
CONTEXT
What the band does and does not mean
Erectile dysfunction is one of the more common and more treatable complaints in medicine. The useful part is the pattern, not the number.
What a clinician checks
- Blood pressure and waist measurement — the vascular door
- Blood sugar (HbA1c) and cholesterol — the metabolic door
- Testosterone, taken in the morning, if the picture warrants it
- Every medication you take — including ones added months ago
- Sleep, alcohol, smoking, mood — the doors that are free to open yourself
The pattern beats the score
- Morning or solo erections intact but partnered ones shaky → the anxiety or conditioning loop, not the plumbing
- Gradual, consistent decline across every context → get the vascular and metabolic checks done
- Sudden onset after a new drug, an injury or pelvic pain → talk to the prescriber or a clinician first
- A rough fortnight around a deadline → a rough fortnight, and the score will move when the fortnight does
Where pornography fits — honestly
Park et al. (2016) review one documented route: conditioned arousal, where repeated novelty on a screen makes a real partnered encounter fail to register. It is a plausible mechanism with neurological reasoning behind it, not a diagnosis you can hand yourself — and it is not the only explanation. Treat it as one hypothesis to put on the table with a clinician, alongside blood pressure, sleep and mood, rather than a verdict to accept alone.Sources & evidence
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