Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Aging
Date Submitted: Sep 23, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 22, 2024 - Nov 17, 2024
Date Accepted: Feb 23, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Sexual Response Problems and Their Correlates Among Older Adults Aged 50+ years in China: Findings from the Sexual Well-being (SWELL) Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Sexual response problems among older adults are not an inevitable consequence of aging but rather a response to sexual health. However, there is a lack of recent and multi-center data on this issue in China.
Objective:
This study aims to assess the prevalence of sexual response problems and their correlates among older adults.
Methods:
A total of 1317 sexually active older adults (842 men, 475 women) were included. Older women reported a higher prevalence of sexual response problems than older men (52.0% Vs 43.1%). Common factors associated with at least one of the sexual response problems included living in rural areas (men: aOR=0.31, 95CI%: 0.22-0.43; women: 0.29, 0.19-0.43) and abnormal body mass index (BMI) (men: 1.52, 1.11-2.07; women: 2.19, 1.47-3.28). Among older men, sleep quality (1.87, 1.30-2.68), emotional connection with sex partners during sex intercourse (0.69, 0.50-0.96), frequently experienced fatigue (2.47, 1.59-3.90), anxiety (4.26, 1.12-21.27), and seeking professional help for sex life (1.58, 1.14-2.21) were associated with sexual response problems. Among older women, sexual response problems were associated with a lack of physical exercise (1.69, 1.13-2.54), poor sex-partner relationships (1.70, 1.12-2.60), and depressive symptoms (3.18, 1.18-10.24).
Results:
A total of 1317 sexually active older adults (842 men, 475 women) were included. Older women reported a higher prevalence of sexual response problems than older men (52.0% Vs 43.1%). Common factors associated with at least one of the sexual response problems included living in rural areas (men: aOR=0.31, 95CI%: 0.22-0.43; women: 0.29, 0.19-0.43) and abnormal body mass index (BMI) (men: 1.52, 1.11-2.07; women: 2.19, 1.47-3.28). Among older men, sleep quality (1.87, 1.30-2.68), emotional connection with sex partners during sex intercourse (0.69, 0.50-0.96), frequently experienced fatigue (2.47, 1.59-3.90), anxiety (4.26, 1.12-21.27), and seeking professional help for sex life (1.58, 1.14-2.21) were associated with sexual response problems. Among older women, sexual response problems were associated with a lack of physical exercise (1.69, 1.13-2.54), poor sex-partner relationships (1.70, 1.12-2.60), and depressive symptoms (3.18, 1.18-10.24).
Conclusions:
Sexual response problems are common among older adults. These problems were associated with adverse physical health, mental health, and poor sex-partner relationships. These findings highlight the importance for healthcare providers to take into account the physical and psychological health of older adults, as well as the quality of their relationships with sexual partners, when diagnosing and addressing sexual response problems.
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