July 6, 2010

By Rich Bernstein

Sex after the age of 40 is not necessarily safe for men who use erectile dysfunction (ED) medications, according a study that looked at the medical records of 1.4 million men over that age. The study showed that men who used ED drugs such as Viagra were more than twice as likely to contract an STD – either before or after filling their first ED prescription.

Although younger adults are 10 times more likely to contract an STD than a middle-aged or older adult, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the number of new STD cases among 10,000 men over the age of 40 was about six in 2008 – up nearly 50 percent from 1996. Comparatively, the rates for STDs are growing much faster among older adults.

The most common STDs, in order, were HIV, Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The shortcoming of the study was that it contained no data about frequency of sex, sexual practices, or number of sex partners. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was a powerful indicator, however, that users of ED medications should be targeted for safe-sex counseling. Doctors who prescribe ED medications, and pharmacists who fill the prescriptions, should take it upon themselves to talk to the patients about the importance of safe sex, researchers said.

The study focused on nearly 34,000 men who received a prescription for ED between 1998 (the year Viagra came to market, and the year men began to purchase Viagra online) and 2006. All men were employed and covered by health insurance.

The researchers postulated that older men take less precautions when having sex because their partners may not be impregnable. Previous studies show that men over 50 are six times less likely to use a condom than men in their 20s, for example. Men over 50 are also much less likely to get tested for HIV, so there may be many older men who unknowingly have the disease.

The lead researcher, out of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, stated that the sexual risk profile for ED users is very high. Those who conducted the study also surmised that more divorces and better health at an older age may boost the sexual prowess of older men. Also, the use of Viagra among the study sample increased from 4.3 percent to 6.3 percent between 1998 and 2003. This indicates that more confident older men may be engaging in sex in the first place.

Read more health news articles on AccessRx.