Sexually transmitted infection rates have risen sharply amongst adults 55 and older, CDC data shows

Sexually transmitted infections have gotten more common in older adults.

Rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in people ages 55 and up greater than doubled within the U.S. over the 10-year period from 2012 to 2022, in accordance with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The variety of syphilis cases amongst people ages 55 and up increased seven-fold during those 10 years, while gonorrhea cases increased nearly five-fold and chlamydia cases greater than tripled during that point. 

A presentation to be delivered Thursday — a part of a lead-up event to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month — warns that each doctors and older adults are overlooking the risks of STIs on this age group. 

“We discuss smoking, we discuss weight-reduction plan, exercise, so many things, and never about sex in any respect,” said Justyna Kowalska, the creator of the presentation and a professor of drugs on the Medical University of Warsaw. 

The problem just isn’t limited to the U.S. In England, surveillance data published in 2022 suggested that STI diagnoses rose 22% from 2014 to 2019 amongst people ages 45 and up. Chlamydia was probably the most common, followed by gonorrhea. 

Kowalska pointed to just a few aspects that could be driving up STI rates amongst older adults.

For one, persons are living longer in comparison with past generations and having fun with more lively lifestyles of their 60s, 70s and 80s. For a lot of, that features sex. A 2018 survey from AARP and the University of Michigan estimated that 40% of individuals ages 65 to 80 are sexually lively, and nearly two-thirds are involved in sex. 

Hormone substitute therapy, which may treat symptoms of menopause, can extend sexual desire in older women, while erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra can assist older men remain sexually lively.

But older adults may not have gotten the style of sex education provided to teenagers today, in accordance with Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor on the Texas A&M School of Public Health.

“Back within the ’30s, the ’40s, the ’50s, traditional school wasn’t really doing sexual education very formally,” said Smith, who studies behavioral health risks in older adults.

Smith’s research has shown that older adults lack some knowledge about STI transmission, symptoms and prevention.

He said doctors might be sheepish about asking older patients about their sexual intercourse, and older people often aren’t inclined to debate their sex lives with peers or members of the family.

“Nobody desires to take into consideration grandma doing this,” Smith said. “You definitely aren’t going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that is a part of the issue, because every individual no matter age has the suitable to intimacy.”

Some older men may struggle with condom use, Smith said, due to either a scarcity of dexterity or erectile dysfunction.

What’s more, he added, many older adults married at a younger age than is typical now and only had one sexual partner until they divorced or were widowed. So some won’t think to make use of a condom, Smith said — especially since pregnancy is not a priority. 

Nursing homes also create opportunities for brand new sexual partners. The outcomes of a U.S. survey of nursing home directors, published in 2016, found that sexual intercourse was common in these settings, which frequently have more female than male residents.

“Within the heterosexual, older adult community, there is a partner gap: Women live longer than men and there is a larger proportion of females to men,” Smith said. “What it will possibly result in oftentimes is multiple partners and sharing of partners.”

Though STIs pose health risks to all age groups, older people could have a harder time clearing infections or be more at risk of contracting them in the primary place, medical examiners said.

“The immune system is weaker, so you possibly can get an infection easier, but there’s other physical things related to only sexual intimacy that make yet another susceptible,” said Ethan Morgan, an assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. Amongst women who’re postmenopausal, for example, the vaginal lining is more susceptible to tearing, which makes it easier for an infection to occur.

The experts stressed that doctors have to do a greater job of discussing protected sex with older patients.

“We wish them to have their best life,” Smith said, “but we would like them to have it safely.”