Health status and years of sexually active life among older men and women in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of sample 50 years and older by gender, 2005 and 2012, SABSSM survey.

Characteristic	2005			2012
	Men (n = 1291)	Women (n = 2504)	p-value	Men (n = 3096)	Women (n = 4751)	p value
	n (%)	n (%)		n (%)	n (%)
Age (year)			p = 0.001			p < 0.001
50-59	653 (46.1)	1222 (44.0)		1480 (54.7)	2202 (46.9)
60-69	438 (38.3)	783 (33.0)		1003 (29.7)	1481 (31.2)
70-79	154 (12.3)	385 (17.0)		466 (12.6)	755 (17.0)
80 +	46 (3.4)	114 (6.0)		144 (3.0)	310 (4.9)
Marital status			p < 0.001			p < 0.001
Single	70 (4.6)	237 (10.6)		176 (5.4)	496 (10.8)
Married	919 (74.7)	1141 (43.2)		2155 (68.8)	2092 (43.9)
Cohabiting	43 (3.2)	40 (1.6)		253 (9.7)	212 (5.1)
Separated	93 (8.1)	187 (6.6)		136 (4.8)	300 (7.6)
Widow	141 (9.4)	864 (38.0)		321 (11.3)	1569 (32.6)
Education			p = 0.001			p = 0.001
Primary	610 (55.5)	1403 (63.6)		770 (36.6)	1328 (38.6)
Secondary	330 (18.2)	637 (20.9)		795 (28.0)	1277 (32.8)
Matric	182 (13.4)	275 (9.6)		546 (20.2)	594 (17.6)
Tertiary	160 (12.9)	170 (5.9)		332 (15.5)	323 (10.9)
Race			p < 0.001			p = 0.027
African	606 (63.2)	1335 (74.9)		1390 (64.5)	2407 (68.6)
White	281 (24.4)	457 (15.7)		621 (21.5)	710 (18.8)
Coloured	216 (8.8)	402 (6.7)		550 (10.2)	866 (9.4)
Indian	186 (3.6)	304 (2.7)		528 (3.8)	764 (3.3)
Self-rated health			p < 0.001			p < 0.001
Excellent	117 (7.9)	168 (6.2)		483 (16.1)	535 (11.1)
Good	716 (60.9)	1223 (48.5)		1594 (53.1)	2428 (52.3)
Fair	370 (26.3)	935 (38.9)		824 (26.4)	1490 (31.2)
Poor	66 (4.9)	130 (6.4)		144 (4.4)	231 (5.4)
Sexual activity (In the past 13 months)			p < 0.001			p < 0.001
Not active	404 (30.0)	1569 (71.2)		1007 (31.1)	2852 (66.2)
Active	814 (70.0)	745 (28.8)		1835 (68.9)	1494 (33.8)

Table 2 Factors associated with sexual activity among older adults (50 years and older), 2012 SABSSM survey.

Selected Variables	Males		Females
	Unadjusted OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)	Unadjusted OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)
Self-rated health
Poor (1)
Good	1.86 (1.41-2.47) ^***	1.56 (1.11-2.19) ^**	1.63 (1.31-2.03) ^***	1.01 (0.75-1.37)
Age
50-59 (1)
60-69	0.53 (0.39-0.74) ^***	0.43 (0.30-0.62) ^***	0.44 (0.33-0.58) ^***	0.38 (0.26-0.56) ^***
70-79	0.14 (0.96-0.21) ^***	0.11 (0.07-0.17) ^***	0.94 (0.06-0.15) ^***	0.09 (0.05-0.18) ^***
80 +	0.13 (0.06-0.26) ^***	0.06 (0.03-0.13) ^***	0.04 (0.02-0.10) ^***	0.06 (0.02-0.21) ^***
Marital status
Married (1)
Single	0.09 (0.06-0.13) ^***	0.06 (0.04-0.10) ^***	0.03 (0.02-0.05) ^***	0.04 (0.03-0.06) ^***
Exercises
No (1)
Yes, Vigorous Exercises	1.83 (1.21-3.00)*	1.34 (0.78-2.31)	1.61 (1.13-2.28)**	1.00 (0.60-1.53)
Yes, Moderate Exercises	1.26 (0.89-1.78)	0.95 (0.54-1.69)	1.89 (1.41-2.53) ^***	1.99 (1.32-3.00) ^**
Chronic Conditions
None (1)
At least one	0.67 (0.50-0.86) ^**	0.64 (0.46-0.91) ^*	0.79 (0.62-1.00) ^*	0.91 (0.62-1.32)
HIV status
Negative (1)
Positive	1.42 (0.88-2.29)	1.78 (0.98-3.24)	0.62 (0.39-0.98) ^*	0.52 (0.27-0.98) ^*

(1) reference value

*** P < .001

** P < .01

* P < 0.5

CI – Confidence Interval.

Table 3 Gender differences in sexually active life expectancy by health status at ages 50, 60, 70 and 80, based on the 2005 and 2012 SABSSM surveys.

Age	Expectation of life	Men					Women
		2005		2012		Change 2005-2012	2005		2012		Change 2005-2012
		Years	95% CI	Years	95% CI		Years	95% CI	Years	95% CI
50	Total Life Expectancy (TLE)	18.4		24.0		5.6	22.9		28.5		5.5
	Sexually Active LE	12.7	[12.0; 13.4]	12.7	[12.2; 13.3]	0.1	5.9	[5.4; 6.4]	7.2	[6.6; 7.8]	1.3*
	Self-rated health
	Poor Health	10.5	[9.4; 11.6]	11.3	[10.3; 12.2]	0.7	4.7	[3.9; 5.5]	6.1	[5.3; 6.9]	1.4
	Good Health	13.7	[12.9; 14.5]	13.5	[12.8; 14.2]	-0.2	6.9	[6.2; 7.6]	7.8	[7.1; 8.6]	0.9
	Poor Health/TLE (%)^¥	57.2		58.0		0.8	20.5		24.8		4.3
	Good Health/TLE (%)^¥	74.6		69.6		-4.9	30.1		32.0		1.8
60	Total LE	12.9		17.9		5.1	17.2		21.8		4.6
	Sexually Active LE	7.0	[6.2; 7.8]	7.3	[6.8; 8.4]	0.3	2.0	[1.6; 2.4]	3.2	[2.7; 3.7]	1.2*
	Self-rated health
	Poor Health	5.4	[4.2; 6.5]	5.9	[5.1; 6.8]	0.6	1.6	[1.1; 2.2]	2.5	[1.9; 3.1]	0.9
	Good Health	7.9	[6.9; 8.9]	8.1	[7.4; 8.7]	0.2	2.4	[1.8; 3.0]	3.7	[3.0; 4.4]	1.3*
	Poor Health/TLE (%) ^¥	41.6		43.9		2.4	9.4		13.8		4.4
	Good Health/TLE (%) ^¥	61.1		59.9		-1.3	14.0		20.3		6.3
70	Total LE	8.4		12.9		4.5	11.5		15.3		3.8
	Sexually Active LE	3.3	[2.4; 4.3]	3.0	[2.5; 3.6]	-0.3	0.4	[0.1; 0.6]	0.8	[0.5; 1.1]	0.4*
	Self-rated health
	Poor Health	2.2	[1.1; 3.3]	1.9	[1.3; 2.6]	-0.3	0.2	[0.0; 0.4]	0.4	[0.1; 0.6]	0.2
	Good Health	4.0	[2.7; 5.3]	3.8	[3.0; 4.5]	-0.2	0.6	[0.2; 1.0]	1.1	[0.6; 1.5]	0.5
	Poor Health/TLE (%) ^¥	26.5		22.0		-4.5	1.6		3.0		1.4
	Good Health/TLE (%) ^¥	48.0		43.3		-4.7	5.1		8.9		3.8
80 +	Total LE	5.3		8.2		2.9	6.9		9.1		2.3
	Sexually Active LE	0.8	[0.1; 1.4]	1.8	[1.0; 2.6]	1.0*	0.1	[0.0; 0.2]	0.3	[0.0; 0.5]	0.2
	Self-rated health
	Poor Health	0.7	[0.1; 1.6]	0.6	[0.1; 1.1]	-0.1	0.1	[0.0; 0.2]	0.2	[0.1; 0.4]	0.1
	Good Health	0.9	[0.2; 1.9]	2.6	[1.6; 3.6]	1.8*	0.2	[0.1; 0.6]	0.2	[0.1; 0.6]	0.0
	Poor Health/TLE (%) ^¥	13.8		11.0		-2.8	0.0		2.2		2.2
	Good Health/TLE (%) ^¥	16.4		48.2		31.8	3.1		3.3		0.1

LE – Life Expectancy

95%CI – 95% Confidence Interval.

* significantly different at 5% level from previous time period.

¥ proportion (%) of remaining sexually active life by health status.

Figure 1. Sexually active life expectancy in South African men and women in Good or Poor Health, based on 2005 SABSSM surveys.

Figure 2. Sexually active life expectancy in South African men and women in Good or Poor Health, based on 2012 SABSSM surveys.

Figure 3. Proportion of remaining sexually active life for men and women, 2005 and 2012.