Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates Surging Among Older Adults: CDC Data Reveals Alarming Trend

(CTN News) – Older adults are more likely to get sexually transmitted infections.

Over the 10 years from 2012 to 2022, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis rates more than doubled among older Americans.

People age 55 and over are seven times more likely to get syphilis, gonorrhea is five times more likely, and chlamydia is more than tripled during those 10 years.

Both doctors and older adults are overlooking the risks of STIs in this age group, according to a presentation on Thursday – part of a lead-up event to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases next month.

“It’s all about smoking, diet, exercise, not sex at all,” said Justyna Kowalska, author of the presentation and professor of medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw.

People ages 45 and up in England reported an increase of 22% in Sexually Transmitted Infection diagnoses from 2014 to 2019. Chlamydia was most common, followed by gonorrhea.

Kowalska pointed out a few factors that might be driving up Sexually Transmitted Infection rates.

Compared to previous generations, people live longer and enjoy more active lifestyles in their 60s, 70s and 80s. That includes sex for many. In a 2018 study, AARP and the University of Michigan found that 40% of people 65 to 80 are sexually active, and two-thirds are interested.

Older women can prolong sexual desire with hormone replacement therapy, and older men can stay sexually active with erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra.

According to Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health, older adults might not have received the same sex education as teens today.

“Sexual education wasn’t done very formally in traditional schools back in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s,” says Smith.

According to Smith’s research, older adults don’t know much about Sexually Transmitted Infections, symptoms, or prevention.

Doctors can be timid about asking older patients about their sex lives, and older people aren’t always willing to talk about it.

Everyone doesn’t want to think about grandma doing that,” Smith said. “You won’t ask grandma if she’s wearing condoms – and that’s part of the problem because everyone has the right to intimacy.”

A lack of skill or erectile dysfunction can make older men struggle with condom use, Smith said.

Additionally, many older adults married earlier than they do now and had one sexual partner until they divorced or were widowed. So they might not think to use a condom – especially since pregnancy isn’t an issue.

An American survey of nursing home directors published in 2016 found that sexual activity was common in these settings, which often have more women than men.

Women live longer than men, and there’s a greater proportion of women than men in the older adult community,” Smith said. “This can lead to multiple partners and sharing partners.”

Medical experts say seniors are more likely to contract Sexually Transmitted Infections or have a harder time clearing infections, even though they pose a risk to everyone.

It’s easier for you to get an infection with a weak immune system, but other physical things like sexual intimacy are also more likely to make you vulnerable, said Ethan Morgan, assistant professor of epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Nursing.

A woman’s vaginal lining rips more easily when she’s postmenopausal, which makes infection easier.

Doctors need to talk to older patients more about safe sex, the experts said.

“We want them to live their best lives, but we want them to do it safely.”