In the United States, the rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia among adults 55 and older have more than doubled. s. information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the ten-year period from 2012 to 2022.
Those ten years saw a seven-fold increase in syphilis cases among those aged 55 and up, a nearly five-fold increase in gonorrhea cases, and a more than triple increase in chlamydia cases.
The risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in older adults and doctors alike are being overlooked, according to a presentation scheduled for this Thursday as part of the activities leading up to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month.
Author of the presentation and medical professor at the Medical University of Warsaw Justyna Kowalska said, “We talk about smoking, we talk about diet, exercise, so many things, and not about sex at all.”.
This is not just a U.S. problem. s.
Surveillance data from England released in 2022 indicated that among adults 45 and older, STI diagnoses increased by 22% between 2014 and 2019.
The most prevalent was chlamydia, which was followed by gonorrhea.
Kowalska identified a few potential causes of the rise in STI rates among older adults.
To start, compared to previous generations, people are living longer and leading more active lives into their 60s, 70s, and 80s age range.
For many, that involves having sex.
According to a 2018 survey conducted by the University of Michigan and AARP, 40% of adults between the ages of 65 and 80 report having sex, and almost two thirds say they are interested in having sex.
While erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra can help older men stay sexually active, hormone replacement therapy, which can treat menopause symptoms, can prolong sexual desire in older women.
However, Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas AandM School of Public Health, speculates that older adults might not have received the same kind of sex education that is given to teenagers today.
“Traditional schools weren’t really doing sexual education very formally back in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s,” according to Smith, an expert on behavioral health risks in older adults.
According to Smith’s research, older adults are not as knowledgeable about the symptoms, prevention, and transmission of sexually transmitted infections.
Elderly patients frequently have a tendency to keep their sexual lives a secret from friends and family, he claimed, and doctors are sometimes reluctant to inquire about their sexual activity.
According to Smith, “no one wants to think about grandma doing this.”.
“You’re not going to question grandma about her condom use, and that’s part of the issue because everyone has the right to intimacy, regardless of age. According to Smith, some elderly men may find it difficult to use condoms due to erectile dysfunction or a lack of dexterity.
Furthermore, he continued, many older adults got married earlier than is customary these days and had only one sexual partner up until their divorce or widowhood.
Smith stated that since pregnancy is not a concern, some people might not think to use a condom.
New sexual partners can also be found in nursing homes.
The outcomes of a U. S. A 2016 survey of directors of nursing homes revealed that there was a high prevalence of sexual activity in these environments, where residents are frequently more female than male.
“There’s a partner gap in the heterosexual, older adult community: Women live longer than men and make up a larger proportion of the population than men,” Smith explained.
“Many partners and partner sharing are what it can frequently result in. Seniors may find it more difficult to recover from infections or more likely to get them in the first place, according to medical professionals, even though STIs are harmful to people of all ages.
“There are other physical factors related to just sexual intimacy that make one more susceptible, but the immune system is weaker, so you can get an infection easier,” explained Ethan Morgan, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing.
For example, the vaginal lining is more likely to tear in postmenopausal women, which increases the risk of infection.
Experts emphasized that healthcare providers should do a better job of talking to elderly patients about safe sexual behavior.
Smith remarked, “We want the best life for them, but we also want it to be safe. “.
The prevalence of STDs among senior citizens is rising.
People over 55 now have twice as many cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia in the U.S. s. based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the ten-year span from 2012 to 2022.
In those ten years, cases of gonorrhea nearly fivefold and chlamydia more than tripled, while cases of syphilis among adults 55 and older increased sevenfold.
The risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in older adults and doctors alike are being overlooked, according to a presentation scheduled for this Thursday as part of the activities leading up to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month.
Justyna Kowalska, a medical professor at the Medical University of Warsaw and the presentation’s author, stated, “We talk about smoking, we talk about diet, exercise, so many things, and not about sex at all.”.
The problem extends beyond the U.S. S. According to surveillance data released in 2022, STI diagnoses among adults 45 years of age and older in England increased by 22% between 2014 and 2019. Gonorrhea was the most common, followed by chlamydia.
Among older adults, Kowalska identified a few possible risk factors for STIs.
To start, compared to previous generations, people are living longer and leading more active lives into their 60s, 70s, and 80s age range. That includes having sex for many. Nearly two-thirds of adults between the ages of 65 and 80 are interested in having sex, according to a 2018 AARP and University of Michigan survey that estimated 40% of respondents are sexually active.
Older women’s sexual desire can be prolonged by hormone replacement therapy, which can treat menopause symptoms; older men can maintain their sexual activity with the help of erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra.
However, according to Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas AandM School of Public Health, older adults might not have received the same kind of sex education that is given to teenagers today.
According to Smith, who specializes in behavioral health risks in older adults, “traditional school wasn’t really doing sexual education very formally back in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s.”.
According to Smith’s research, older adults are not as knowledgeable about the symptoms, prevention, and transmission of STIs.
He claimed that older people frequently have no desire to talk about their sexual lives with peers or family members, and that doctors can be shy when inquiring about their sexual activity.
Smith remarked, “No one wants to think about grandma doing this.”. “You’re not going to question grandma about her condom use, and that’s part of the issue because everyone has the right to intimate relations, regardless of age. “.
Due to erectile dysfunction or a lack of dexterity, some older men may find it difficult to use condoms, according to Smith.
Furthermore, he continued, a lot of older adults got married earlier than is customary these days and only had one sexual partner before getting divorced or becoming widowed. According to Smith, some people might not think to use a condom because pregnancy isn’t a concern.
Opportunities for new sexual partners are also created by nursing homes. Findings from a U. S. In a 2016 survey of nursing home directors, it was discovered that sexual activity was widespread in these facilities, where residents are frequently more female than male.
“There’s a partner gap in the heterosexual, older adult community: Women live longer than men and make up a larger proportion of the population than men,” Smith stated. Frequently, it can result in having multiple partners and sharing partners. “.
While STIs can affect people of any age, medical professionals noted that older adults may find it more difficult to recover from infections or may be more vulnerable to getting them in the first place.
Ethan Morgan, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, stated that although someone’s immune system is weakened, they are still more vulnerable to infections due to other physical factors associated with sexual intimacy. For example, the vaginal lining is more likely to tear in postmenopausal women, which increases the risk of infection.
Experts emphasized that healthcare providers should do a better job of talking to elderly patients about safe sexual behavior.
“Safety is our top priority, but we also want them to live the best life possible,” Smith stated. ****.
