A new study found, Most older adults with diabetes are sexually active but the illness does cause some problems with intimacy.
U.S. researchers surveyed 1,993 people, aged 57 to 85, and found that nearly 70 percent of partnered men with diabetes and 62 percent of partnered women with diabetes had sex two or three times a month, which is equivalent to people the same age without diabetes.
However, compared with men with no diabetes, diabetic men were more likely to lack interest in sex and to experience erectile dysfunction. Men and women with diabetes reported a elevated rate of orgasm problems, such as climaxing too soon (men) or not at all (men and women).
The study, published in the September issue of the journal Diabetes Care, also establish that 47 percent of men with diabetes had discussed sexual troubles with a doctor, compared with only 19 percent of diabetic women. Men were much more expected than women to initiate this type of discussion.
“Patients and doctors need to know that most middle-age and older adults with followers are still sexually active despite their diabetes. Still, many people with diabetes have sexual problems that are not being addressed,” study lead author Dr. Stacy Lindau, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of medicine at the University of Chicago, said in a university news release.