Study: Diabetes Does Not End Sexual Activity of People in the Middle-age

Diabetes does not end sexual activity of the middle-aged and older adults, though it affects their sexual function, revealed a new study published in the September 2010 issue of Diabetes Care. 

Study

Researchers: Lead author Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, MAPP, FACOG, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of medicine at the University of Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues

A part of the National Health, Social Life and Aging Project, the survey evaluated 1993 adults aged 57 to 85 years both with and without Diabetes.

Study Design - In-home interviews, medication inventories, and measurements of HbA1c levels

Results

The researchers reiterated the association of Diabetes with sexual dysfunction. Even though Diabetes affects libido, erectile function, and orgasm, older partnered adults with the disease still engage in sexual activity about as often as people without the disease. Almost 70% of partnered men with Diabetes and 62% of partnered women with Diabetes engage in sexual activity an average of 2 or 3 times each month.

Of the participants, 47% of men had Diabetes; about half were aware of the disease. Nearly 40% of the women surveyed were found to have Diabetes. Again, only half of them were aware they had the disease.

Men with diagnosed Diabetes were more likely to report diminished interest in sex (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 - 2.63) than other men and to report having more problems with Erectile Dysfunction (AOR, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.53 - 4.14). Difficulties in achieving orgasm were more common in participants with Diabetes, and such difficulties were reported in both women and men, regardless of whether they were aware they had Diabetes.

Women with Diabetes were less likely than men with Diabetes (AOR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.16 - 0.48) and women without Diabetes (AOR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.45 - 0.87) to be sexually active, and those with Diabetes who had no partners were only about half as likely to be sexually active as women with partners (33% vs 62%, respectively).