صفحه 1:
Sexual Desire and Sexual Activity
of Men andWomen Across their
Lifespan
KK Aggarwal
Abstract Objective: To study the sexual desire and activity of men and women aged
30-80 years. Methodology: A representative sample was surveyed and correlated with
their social, individual and interpersonal characteristics. A total of 100 subjects were
recruited. Observations: The study showed that sexual desire declined with advancing
age with overall men reporting more frequent and stronger sexual desire compared to
women. For both men and women, sexual activity in older participants was mostly an
issue of denial or disagreement of the other partner. There were additional social and
personality determinants of lack of sexual desire and sexual inactivity, which included
illness, lack of privacy, erectile dysfunction, spiritual reasons and menopause.
Conclusions: Sexual history should be a routine part of history taking and should be
undertaken during assessment of the patient.
صفحه 2:
Abstract:
Low sexual desire is expected to be
associated with low sexual activity. Like
sexual desire, sexual activity also declines
with age. Important predictors of sexual
activity of aging men are availability of a
partner, infrequent sexual activity, low
satisfaction with sexual performance,
limited ability to speak about sexuality,
certain personality characteristics, in
particular low openness and lack of social
صفحه 3:
Methodology
The study was based on a representative survey of the
population, recruiting a total of 100 people aged 30-80 years. The
sample comprised of 68 men and 32 women. For further analysis,
the study sample was divided into five age groups of comparable
size: 30-40 years (n = 7), 41-50 years (n = 20), 51-60 years (n =
38), 61-70 years (n = 24) and >70 years (n = 11). The mean age of
the men was 56.86 years and of women was 56.18 years.
All study participants were given a questionnaire on an
outpatient basis followed by face-to-face interview in the hospital
setting.
*All study subjects were married, none were divorced or
separated; 7 were widowed (2 men and 7 women). Overall 93%
lived with a partner.
*Employment rates differed between men and women; more men
than women were employed, 72.05% (49/68) versus 25% (8/32),
respectively.
صفحه 4:
Questionnaire
1- What is the frequency of sexual intercourse in a
week/month/year?
2- What is the reason for cessation of intercourse?
3- What is the average duration of erectile process
(for men)?
4- Presence of premature ejaculation? Yes/No
5- Personal and Partner satisfaction? Yes/No
6- Extramarital affairs (if any): Yes/No
7- Chronic diseases suffered in the past along with
their duration
8- Investigations undergone and their results
9- Current medications (prescription/OTC)
صفحه 5:
Observations
The frequency and intensity of sexual
desire in men and women according to
age were analyzed separately for the
five age groups.
The frequency was rated as follows:
* Very frequent or frequent: Sexually
active
* Occasional or rare: Partially sexually
صفحه 6:
Frequency of Sexual Activity in Men
Below the age of 50 years, all men (n = 19) were
sexually active with zero percent reporting no
sexual activity.
Only one person (5.26%) was partially sexually
active. After the age of 50 years (n = 49), 24.48%
of men were fully sexually active; 30.61% were
partially sexually active and 46.93% were not
sexually active.
After the age of 60 years, none of the men were
fully sexually active. ‘No sexual activity’ increased
from 20% in the 51-60 years age group to 87.5% in
those aged >70 years. Sixty-nine percent men
صفحه 7:
Age group (Years) Intensity Number of males (n= 68) Percentage of males
30-40 (n= 6), Very frequentfirequentiy 6
‘Occasionalirarely 0
Nil ۰
41-50 (n= 13) Very trequentifrequent 12
‘Occasionalrare 1
Nil 0 0
5160 (n = 25) ‘Very froquentirequontly 12 48
‘Occacionalrarely 8 2
Nil 5 20
61-70 (n= 16) ‘Very frequentfrequently 0 0
‘Occasionalrarely 5 31.25
Nil 1 68.75
270 (n= 8) Very frequentirequently 0 0
ب سه 1 vate ۸
Nil B75
صفحه 8:
Frequency of Sexual Activity in Women
All women below the age of 40 years were fully sexually
active with zero percent reporting no sexual activity.
After the age of 40 years (n = 31), only 16% of women
were fully sexually active. In the 41-50 years age group,
14.28% women were not sexually active; this percentage
in 50-60 years age group was 53.84% and in 60-70 years
age group, it was 62.5%. After the age of 70 years, 100%
women reported no sexual activity. Fifty-seven percent
women in the age group 41-50 years; 23% in the age
group 50-60 years; 37.5% in the age group 60-70 years
and zero percent after the age of 70 were partially
sexually active. In the 41-50 years age group, 28.57%
women were fully sexually active; this percentage in 50-
صفحه 9:
Percentage of females
100
Number of females (n = 32)
Intensity
Very frequentyfrequenty
Occasionally/rarely
Nil
Very frequentlfrequently
Oceasionaliyrarely
Nil
Very frequenti/frequertly
Occasionallyirarely
Nil
Very frequenti/requertly
Occasionally/rarely
Nil
Very requentiyfrequently
Occasionally/rarely
Nil
Age groups (Years)
30-40 (n= 1)
41-50 (n=7)
51-60 (n= 13)
61-70 (n=8)
270 (n=3)
صفحه 10:
Men vs Women
* Both men and women were equally fully
sexually active at age 40.
Between the age of 40-50 years, 92% of men
were fully sexually active and only 28.57% of
women were fully sexually active. 57.14% of
women were partially sexually active in this
age group and 14% of them were not sexually
active.
Between 50-60 yeas, 32% of men and 23% of
women were partially sexually active. Twenty
percent of men and 54% women were sexually
aia. en waieiihaiin. Lan Sie Gece Snes ook.
صفحه 11:
Other Observations
* Men were sexually more active than women at all
ages.
* Men were also more partially sexually active than
women at all ages.
٠ The reasons for no sexual activity were advanced age,
illness and spiritual.
* Sixteen percent men reported having erectile
dysfunction and 18% had premature ejaculation. Only
two men admitted to extramarital relationships.
* Overall 95.5% people showed personal satisfaction in
their sexual life and 94.11% stated that their partners
were also satisfied with the relationship.
* No association was found between sexual satisfaction
and diabetes. blood pressure or heart disease.
صفحه 12:
Discussion
An analysis based on two representative national sex surveys conducted
in Finland in the 1990s has shown that women were more likely than
men to report lack of sexual desire.1 Another German study also showed
that sexual desire declined with advancing age; overall, men reported
more frequent and stronger sexual desire than women. In the study for
both men and women, sexual activity in older participants was mostly an
issue of the presence of a partnership. There were additional social and
personality determinants of a lack of sexual desire and sexual inactivity:
In men, sexual desire was compromised by social factors
(unemployment, low income), while in women these were previous
sexual traumas (childhood sexual abuse, rape).2 In our study also, men
reported more frequent and intense sexual desire and activity than
women. Sexual desire declined with age for both men and women. In
both men and women, infrequent sexual activity was most clearly
determined by age. At >70 years of age, most men and women reported
no sexual activity. Aging women had less sexual desire in general than in
aging men. Lack of sexual desire was rare among young men and
SM ak ci ل اي ا را کر وی ی i a ید هنت
صفحه 13:
Conclusions
Despite the growing older population, the topic of sexuality in
older adults is often not discussed. Chronic diseases, such as
cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes mellitus
and associated psychological disturbances, are more prevalent
in this age group and can have considerable impact on
sexuality in both men and women.
Also, many older people are hesitant to discuss this topic.
The belief that older people are less sexually active than their
younger counterparts often influences the clinician’s
interaction with the patient and the issue is not addressed
during evaluation. Sexual history should be a routine part of
history taking and should be undertaken during assessment of
the patient.
An understanding of the sexual changes that accompany the