Viagra might make you live LONGER, scientists discover - but they admit they've got no idea why

Amorous encounters might not be the only thing Viagra extends. 

That is according to scientists, anyway. 

Sildenafil, the powerful chemical that gives men erections, may have a 'beneficial effect on lifespan', French and Swiss researchers say.

Men prescribed the impotency drug were found to be 15 per cent less likely to die during the course of the study which examined 40 years of data.  

The apparent life-extending effects were so clear that the team claimed the results 'warrant further investigation'. 

Medical records of around 500,000 Brits were analysed in the study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed — the process that irons out any flaws in the methodology.

Armed with that data, experts at biotech start-up EPITERNA could see any potential health outcomes linked to certain medications.

Most of the 400-plus drugs they assessed, which included the antibiotic amoxicillin and the cholesterol medication simvastatin, had a 'negative' effect on lifespan. 

For instance, the opioid painkiller morphine was linked to a 456 per cent heightened risk of dying during the course of the study.

The researchers, working alongside experts from the universities of Zurich, Lausanne and Toulouse Hospital, said this was 'probably due to the underlying negative effect of the disease the drug is intended for'.

Conversely, experts were unable to pinpoint the exact reason why the little blue pill might help people live longer.

However, they flagged recent studies which highlighted how sildenafil may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, as well as heart disease, as being potential factors.

Similar longevity benefits were observed with atorvastatin, naproxen and estradiol, too. 

Writing in their pre-print, the team said: 'These retrospective results warrant further investigation in randomized controlled trials.'

Researchers used data from the UK Biobank. Patients were aged between 37 and 73. Only 46 per cent were men. 

They had to have been prescribed a drug for at least three-months for it to be included in the data, although it was unclear how often patients would be taking the medication.  

Patients were matched one-to-one to a 'control' who had the same health conditions but not taking the same drug, allowing the scientists to compare any differences. 

The researchers didn't detail the average period of years they followed patients for in the study.  

While the researchers looked at multiple drugs, they only examined men prescribed sildenafil. 

Researchers said it was impossible to determine if healthy people taking sildenafil would enjoy the same longevity-boosting effects observed in their study. 

It also was not possible to determine why patients were taking sildenafil in the first place.

While famed as an impotence drug, sildenafil is also used by men and women who suffer from pulmonary hypertension — a type of high blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs.

The same process by which the drug increases blood flow to the penis also relaxes blood vessels in the chest to help treat the condition.

Scientists behind the study also said the dataset doesn't account for other factors which may have boosted a patient's life expectancy, such as diet or exercise. 

Sildenafil became an over-the-counter medication in the UK in 2018. 

The study comes a week after MailOnline revealed that popular erection pills such as Viagra and Cialis have been linked to more than 200 deaths in Britain.

None of the fatalities — all of which have occurred since 1998 — are proven to have been caused directly by the drugs. 

Experts also insisted the pills are safe and many incidents could actually reflect deaths linked to sex in men with heart issues instead. 

Men can buy sildenafil, and other impotence pills over the counter for as little as £15, tablets are also available online for as little as £1.30 per pill.

Millions of British men now take drugs to help impotency. 

The latest NHS backed data shows 22million prescriptions for these drugs were handed out by GPs in England between 2019 and 2023, at the cost of £91million.

Medics already know drugs like sildenafil can be dangerous in some circumstances.

For example, those with known heart problems are advised to avoid taking them.

Even leaflets handed out with sildenafil acknowledge cases of sudden death in men having taken the drug though it insists such cases are rare and mostly in men with heart problems.  

'It is not possible to determine whether these events were directly related to sildenafil,' it also adds. 

Adverse reactions linked to impotency drugs have been reported before in medical literature. 

MailOnline reported last month how a Brazilian man suffered a never-before-seen reaction which saw him break out in pustules across his body after taking tadalafil, sold as Cialis in the UK.

Other reports have linked taking sildenafil to eye problems, including vision loss. 

No medication is risk free and erectile dysfunction pills are no exception. 

The NHS says about one in 100 people will experience common side effects from taking sildenafil, the UK's most prescribed erectile dysfunction drug.

These include headaches, nausea, hot flushes, indigestion, a stuffy nose and dizziness, according to the NHS.

The health service warns that people taking the pills for longer periods, such as for pulmonary hypertension, are more likely to experience these than those taking the pills for erectile dysfunction. 

More serious side effects requiring urgent medical care are estimated to affect less than one in 1,000 people. 

These include seizures, suffering a prolonged and potentially painful erection especially for over two hours, chest pain, and in very rare cases a life-threatening allergic reaction to the medication called anaphylaxis.