By IANS,

Washington : It's now official: ejaculation that occurs in less than “about one minute” of penetration has been designated as “premature”.

Experts have drafted the medical definition of “premature ejaculation”, or PE - the bane of millions of men worldwide - and it will be formally unveiled May 19 at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) in Florida.

And here is the definition: “PE is a male sexual dysfunction characterised by ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration…”

It is, further, the “inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations; and, negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and/or the avoidance of sexual intimacy”.

The move to come up with an “evidence-based definition” of PE was initiated in October 2007 by the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM), which entrusted the task to a panel of the world's leading sexual health experts.

The experts concluded that the definition could also apply to premature ejaculation in sexual activities other than vaginal intercourse, although the definition does not apply to acquired premature ejaculation.

“For something that has such a profound effect on men, young and old, there needs to be a definitive measure to diagnose premature ejaculation,” said sexual health expert Ira D. Sharlip.

“The hope is that more people with these symptoms will understand this is an actual health condition and seek treatment. They no longer need to suffer in silence.”

The ISSM panel of experts agreed that the constructs that are necessary to define PE are: time to ejaculation, inability to delay ejaculation and negative consequences from PE.