Over 50s ‘at risk’ from sex infections

13^th September 2010 - As the Family Planning Association (FPA) highlights pensioners and the older middle aged as part of its Sexual Health Week, we ask Lynn Hearton, the FPA’s Helpline and Information Services Manager, about the campaign.

Lynn, why is the FPA’s sexual health week aimed at older people?

STIs in this group are rising and, over the last several years, this particular group has started to appear in the statistics, and probably at a faster rate than the younger aged. This particular group are at risk of STIs and often aren’t equipped in the same way that their younger cohort is. So it’s really getting people to recognise that this applies to them too because, obviously, if you see constant campaigns for people under 25 then you’re not going to recognise that this includes you if you are over 25.

So why is it that this age group is at risk now?

Many people over 50 are now single. We know that there are more possibilities to meet new people now than there may have been in the past in terms of international travel or internet dating in a generation that’s not just retiring and doing nothing. They are actually very social, with an income, and actually a very mobile population, divorced, separated or widowed and considering new relationships later in life.

To what extent are sexually transmitted infections rising in this over 50 age group?

Some of them - [have risen by] 30% or 40% over a period of four or five years. We’re looking at a significant rise in numbers.

Which infections are they at risk of?

The common ones really: genital warts, genital herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhoea. They’re going to be the top four for any age group, probably, but we are seeing that reflected in this age group too. In fact, the most commonly reported STI in this year’s figures, for this age group, was genital warts.

How can people who are over 50 protect themselves against these infections?

Get some knowledge - and have an understanding of whether they’re at risk and, if they’re at risk, what are they at risk of.

The other thing for people in this age group is: ‘what sort of sexual education have they had’? Particularly if they’ve been in long term relationships, they may not have had to consider any issues around sexual health and what that truly means to them.

There may not be that sort of consideration [for women] that maybe ‘I need to use a condom’, that you might get if you were fertile. I think it just goes off the radar completely.

So it’s all the same issues really that, just because you’re over 50, you know it all. And I think that’s the mistake. I think it also prevents older people from asking questions because they feel they should know. It’s like: ‘Oh my God, I’ve got grown up children, I should know all about this’. And actually, no, not if you’ve been in a 30 year marriage and you haven’t had to consider your sexual health in this way.

The Family Planning Association runs a helpline in England that can be contacted on 0845 122 8690 and in Northern Ireland on 0845 122 8687.