Sexually transmitted infections are becoming more common in older adults.
According to statistics, in the 10 years from 2012 to 2022, the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in the United States among people 55 years and older more than doubled data From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During this decade, the number of syphilis cases among people aged 55 and older increased sevenfold, while gonorrhea cases increased nearly fivefold and chlamydia cases more than tripled.
A talk to be delivered on Thursday – part of preparations for next month’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – warns that both doctors and older people are ignoring the risks of sexually transmitted diseases in this age group.
“We talk about smoking, diet, exercise and many other things, but not at all about sex,” said Justyna Kowalska, the author of the speech and a professor of medicine at the Medical University in Warsaw.
This problem is not limited to the US, the UK Monitoring data Research published in 2022 showed that STI diagnoses among people aged 45 and older increased by 22% from 2014 to 2019. Chlamydia is the most common, followed by gonorrhea.
Kowalska pointed to a number of factors that may be contributing to the increased rates of STDs among older adults.
For one, people are living longer and enjoying more active lifestyles into their 60s, 70s and 80s than previous generations. For many, this includes sex. A 2018 survey AARP and the University of Michigan estimate that 40 percent of people ages 65 to 80 are sexually active, and nearly two-thirds are interested in sex.
Hormone replacement therapy treats menopausal symptoms and can prolong libido in older women, while erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra can help older men stay sexually active.
But Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, said older adults may not have received the sex education provided to teenagers today.
“Back in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, sex education wasn’t really taught very formally in traditional schools,” said Smith, who studies behavioral health risks in older adults.
Smith’s Research Research shows that older adults lack knowledge about the transmission, symptoms and prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
Doctors may be embarrassed to ask older patients about their sexual activities, and older adults are often reluctant to discuss their sex lives with peers or family members, he said.
“No one wants to think grandma would do this,” Smith said. “You certainly wouldn’t ask grandma if she was wearing a condom – that’s part of the problem, because everyone, regardless of age, has a right to intimacy.”
Some older men may have difficulty using condoms because of a lack of flexibility or erectile dysfunction, Smith said.
What’s more, he added, many older adults married at a younger age than is now typical and had only one sexual partner before being divorced or widowed. As a result, some people may not consider using condoms, especially since pregnancy is not an issue, Smith said.
Nursing homes also create opportunities for new sexual partners.result US investigation The Nursing Home President Survey Report, published in 2016, found that sexual activity was common in these settings and that female residents tended to outnumber male residents.
“In heterosexual, older age groups, there’s a partner gap: women live longer than men, and a higher proportion of women than men,” Smith said. “It often results in multiple partners and partner sharing.”
Medical experts say that while sexually transmitted infections pose health risks to people of all ages, older adults may have a harder time clearing the infection or be more susceptible to it.
“A weaker immune system makes you more susceptible to infection, but other physical factors associated with sexual intimacy can make a person more susceptible to infection,” said Ethan Morgan, assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. For example, during menopause In women with vaginal bleeding, the vaginal lining tears more easily, which makes infection more likely to occur.
Experts stress that doctors need to do a better job of discussing safe sex with older patients.
“We want them to live their best lives,” Smith said, “but we want them to live their lives safely.”
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