Successful aging, quality of life, sexual satisfaction stable for postmenopausal women aged 60 to 89
FRIDAY, Sept. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Although sexual activity and function decline with age, self-rated successful aging and quality of life are positively correlated with sexual measures in older postmenopausal women, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Wesley K. Thompson, Ph.D., from the University of California at San Diego, and colleagues assessed whether measures of successful aging are associated with sexual activity, satisfaction, and function in 1,235 postmenopausal women, aged 60 to 89 years. The women were community-dwellers from the San Diego site of the Women's Health Initiative. Data on demographic information and self-reported measures of sexual activity, function, and satisfaction, and successful aging were evaluated.
The investigators found that sexual activity and function (desire, arousal, vaginal tightness, use of lubricants, and ability to climax), and physical and mental health were negatively correlated with age. Conversely, across age groups, sexual satisfaction and self-rated successful aging and quality of life did not change. Sexual measures, especially self-rated quality of life and sexual satisfaction, were positively correlated with successful aging measures.
"Self-rated successful aging, quality of life, and sexual satisfaction appear to be stable in the face of declines in physical health, some cognitive abilities, and sexual activity and function and positively associated with each other from age 60 to 89," the authors write.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)