The Old Man and the Sex

From the Dec. 7, 2010 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine comes a study to ponder. A survey of almost 2800 Australian men between the ages of 75 and 95 not living in nursing homes reveals some sobering information.

Fewer than half of the men (48.8%) considered sex “somewhat important.” Here’s the interesting part: 69.2% of the respondents had not experienced even one sexual encounter within the last year. Of the 30.8% who did have at least one sexual encounter, 43% said they would like to have sex more often. Not addressed in this paper is what would the percentages be if men aged 30-50 or 40 to 60 were surveyed?

Factors associated with a decrease in sexual activity included increasing age, osteoporosis, prostate cancer, diabetes, partner's physical limitations or lack of interest, drugs such as antidepressants and β-blockers and one issue pertinent to men of all ages, lack of a partner.

Limitations of the study are as follows: the men may have exaggerated [you know how men are]; the surveyed group may not represent all old men; the study was done in Perth, a small, rather isolated city in Western Australia so who knows what state of mind these guys were in?

Taking the study at face value, what have we learned here? Don’t get old and don’t get sick. Oh, and don’t forget the partner.