Sexually transmitted infections are becoming more common among older adults.
In the United States, the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis among people 55 and older more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of syphilis cases among people over 55 has increased sevenfold over the past decade, while gonorrhea cases have increased nearly fivefold and chlamydia cases have increased more than threefold.
A presentation on Thursday as part of a preparatory event for next month’s European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases warns that both doctors and older people are overlooking the risk of sexually transmitted infections in this age group. .
“We talk about smoking, diet, exercise and many other things, but we never talk about sex,” said Justina Kowalska, author of the presentation and professor of medicine at Warsaw Medical University.
The problem is not limited to the United States. In the United Kingdom, survey data published in 2022 suggests that STI diagnoses among people aged 45 and over increased by 22% from 2014 to 2019. The most common is chlamydia, followed by gonorrhea.
Kowalska pointed to several factors that may be driving up the incidence of sexually transmitted infections among older adults.
As an example, people are living longer than past generations and enjoying more active lifestyles well into their 60s, 70s, and 80s. For many people, that includes sex. A 2018 study from AARP and the University of Michigan estimated that 40% of people between the ages of 65 and 80 are sexually active, and nearly two-thirds are interested in sex.
Hormone replacement therapy, which can treat the symptoms of menopause, can prolong sexual desire in older women, while erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra can help older men maintain sexual activity.
But older adults may not be receiving the same sex education that is being provided to today’s teens, said Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health.
“In the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, traditional schools didn’t really formally teach sex education as much,” says Smith, who studies behavioral health risks among older adults.
Smith’s research shows that older adults lack knowledge about STI transmission, symptoms, and prevention.
He said doctors can be reluctant to ask older patients about their sexual activity, and older people are often less likely to discuss their sex lives with colleagues or family members.
“Nobody wants to think about their grandma doing something like this,” Smith said. “She’s not going to ask her grandma if she’s wearing a condom. That’s part of the problem, because everyone has the right to intimacy, regardless of age.”
Smith said some older men have trouble using condoms due to lack of dexterity or erectile dysfunction.
Additionally, many older people married at a younger age than is typical today and had only one sexual partner until divorce or widowhood, he added. As a result, some people may not consider using condoms, especially since they aren’t worried about pregnancy, Smith said.
Nursing homes also create opportunities for new sexual partners. A 2016 survey of U.S. nursing home directors found that sexual activity is common in these facilities, which often have more female than male residents.
“In the heterosexual elderly community, there is a partner gap; women live longer than men and there is a larger ratio of women to men,” Smith says. “In many cases, that can lead to multiple partners and partner sharing.”
Medical experts say sexually transmitted infections pose a health risk to people of all ages, but older people may have a harder time treating them or be more likely to get them in the first place.
“It weakens your immune system, which makes you more susceptible to infections, but there are other physical factors that make you more susceptible, not just sexual intimacy,” said Ethan Morgan, assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. talk. For example, in postmenopausal women, the vaginal lining tends to tear, making infections more likely.
Experts stressed that doctors need to talk more about safe sex with older patients.
“We want them to live their best lives, but we also want them to be safe,” Smith said.
