The sexual functioning of elderly hypertensive women

Abstract

To assess the sexual interest and behavior of a large cohort of 60-80 year-old women with mild to moderate hypertension, data from a large multicenter study were analyzed. Of the 142 hypertensive women with partners, 87 (61 %) were sexually active and 55 (39%) were sexually abstinent. The sexually active women were somewhat younger, had higher household incomes, and reported higher ratings of subjective sexual interest than didthe abstinent women. For sexually abstinent women, two major factors appeared to determine the leuel of sexual activity: their partnerS level of sexual desire and his health. Of particular note is the finding that the majority of women in both groups indicated moderate or high satisfaction with their sexual 1ife. When the sample was divided into “younger” elderly (age 69 or below) and “older” elderly (70 or above), the percentage of women displaying moderate or high sexual interest was quite similar (76% and 65%, respectively). Difficulty achieving orgasm and lack of vaginal lubrication were the two mostcommon sexual com-plaints, Scores on quality of life measures did not differ sign;ficantly between the sexual abstinent and active women at baseline.