How to Discuss Sex with Elderly Patients

This article offers advice to medical doctors about talking to older adults about sex and sexuality. It could also be useful for older people who want to bring up sex and sexuality with their doctors.

While there is a decline in sexual activity with age, a great number of men and women continue to engage in vaginal or anal intercourse, oral sex, and masturbation into the eighth and ninth decades of life. In a survey conducted among married men and women, about 90% of respondents between the ages of 60 and 64 and almost 30% of those older than age 80 said they were still sexually active.

SOURCE: The Journal of Family Practice • AUTHOR: Folashade Omole, MD, FAAFP; Edith M. Fresh, PhD, MSW; Charles Sow, MD, MSCR, FAAFP; James Lin, MD; Babafemi Taiwo, MD; Michelle Nichols, MD, MSCR, FAAFP • LAST UPDATED: April 1, 2014