TUESDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) -- About half of elderly men consider sex important, though only about one-third engage in sexual activity, according to research published in the Dec. 7 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
To determine what proportion of older men are sexually active and what factors predict sexual activity, Zoe Hyde, M.P.H., of the University of Western Australia in Crawley, and colleagues assessed questionnaires in which 2,783 men aged 75 to 95 provided data on sexual activity.
The researchers found that nearly half, 48.8 percent, of the men considered sex at least somewhat important and 30.8 percent reported having at least one sexual encounter in the last year. Of that group, 56.5 percent were satisfied with how often they had sex and 43 percent had sex less often than they would like. Older age, partner's lack of interest or physical limitations, osteoporosis, prostate cancer, diabetes, and use of antidepressants and beta blockers were independently associated with lower odds for sexual activity. Having a non-English-speaking background and living with a partner were related to higher odds, as were higher testosterone levels in longitudinal analysis.
"Endogenous testosterone levels seem to predict sexual activity after adjustment for social factors and medical comorbid conditions, but it is unclear what role testosterone therapy may have in improving sexual function in older men. Given the difficulty establishing causality in observational studies, further research is required to explore this question," the authors write.
Abstract
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