Frisky old men - still keen and active: Sex study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 6 2010

According to the latest Australian study, men at 75 and older have not said good bye to their sex lives yet. They found that nearly one third of these older men were sexually active at least once a year -- including about 1 in 10 men aged 90 to 95. Many of these men have agreed that they would want more of sex and those not sexually active are blaming health issues, low testosterone or lack of partners. The findings appear in the Dec. 7 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The team surveyed nearly 2,800 Australian men aged 75-95, most of who were married or living with a partner. They were asked about sexual activity that need not be actual intercourse. Around 40 percent of those aged 75-79 said they had had sex in the past 12 months. But even among those aged 90-95, 11 percent reported sexual activity with someone else over the prior year. Study lead author Zoe Hyde, a researcher at the University of Western Australia said, “Although many people, including some clinicians, continue to believe that sexual activity is not important to older people, our study shows this is not the case. Even in the 10th decade of life, 1 in 5 men still considered sex important.”

Multiple studies over the past years have looked into sexuality in older people. In a 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine a bit more than half of people surveyed in the U.S. aged 65-74 reported recent sexual activity, as did 26 percent of those aged 74-85.

Reasons for abstinence says Hyde include, “Increasing age, lower testosterone levels, a partner's lack of interest in sex, or physical limitations, osteoporosis, prostate cancer, diabetes, use of depression drugs, and use of some blood pressure drugs (beta-blockers) were associated with absence of sexual activity.” She added, “…lack of a partner and decreased interest in sex for some people are important factors, too,” for lack of sex. For older women pain and lack of satisfaction are major issues that block sex said Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau, an associate professor who studies sexuality at the University of Chicago. She said, “If men are having sex, they report satisfaction. That’s not necessarily true for women.” Lindau in her 2007 study found that only 17 percent of women aged 75-85 reported having some sort of sex over the past year, compared to 39 percent of men.

As for satisfaction Hyde says slightly more than half (56.5 percent) of those who reported having some kind of sex within the previous year said they were happy with how much sex they were getting. But 43 percent of them said they had sex less often than they would like. Lindau, said this kind of research helps shine a light on a valuable and often-overlooked side of life for many older people.