European Older Adults’ Use of Lubricants and Medications to Enhance Erectile Function

Figures & data

Figure 1. A conceptual model for use of medication to enhance erectile function (in men), and use of lubricators during sex (in women). Note: Social background factors are operationalized as age and level of education; lifestyle factors are weekly alcohol consumption; medical factors (cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes, prostate cancer in men/ovary and breast cancer and use of hormone replacement therapy in women); sexual factors are sexual intercourse activity during the past month, and experience of sexual difficulties of at least 3 months duration the past year (erectile difficulties in men, pain during intercourse in women).

Table 1. Use of lubricants and use of drugs like Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, or Spedra to assist erectile function in 60–75-year-old men and women (%).

	Men					Women
	Norway	Denmark	Belgium	Portugal	sign	Norway	Denmark	Belgium	Portugal	Sign
Use of lubricants
No	75.2	75.9	80.7	72.1	ns	69.1	72.0	76.1	71.4	ns
Yes	24.8	24.1	19.3	27.9		30.9	28.0	23.9	28.6
	n = 504	n = 411	n = 362	n = 190		n = 424	n = 375	n = 218	n = 154
Use of medication
No	73.8	78.3	77.2	87.6	***	82.2	80.4	83.0	85.2	ns
Yes	26.2	21.7	22.8	12.4		17.8	19.6	17.0	14.8
	n = 507	n = 419	n = 368	n = 193		n = 428	n = 393	n = 224	n = 162

ns: not significant. Tested for statistically significant group differences by means of Chi-square test.

***p < .001.

Table 2. Use of lubricants during sexual activity, and if men ever have taken any type of medicine or pills such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, or Spedra to assist erectile function, in 60–75-year-old males with and without erection difficulties (%).

	Norway		Denmark			Belgium			Portugal
	Erection difficulties	No difficulties	Erection difficulties	No difficulties		Erection difficulties	No difficulties		Erection difficulties	No difficulties
Use of lubricants
No	70.1	80.7**	74.8	74.4	ns	76.9	85.4	.054	66.2	73.9	ns
Yes	29.9	19.3	25.2	25.6		23.1	14.6		33.8	26.1
	n = 241	n = 228	n = 206	n = 176		n = 216	n = 130		n = 77	n = 88
Use of medication
No	58.4	89.5***	67.9	88.9	***	64.4	96.9	***	82.3	92.1	.054
Yes	41.6	10.5	32.1	11.1		35.6	3.1		17.7	7.9
	n = 243	n = 228	n = 209	n = 180		n = 222	n = 130		n = 79	n = 89

ns: not significant. Tested for statistically significant group differences by means of Chi-square test.

*** p < .001.

Table 3. Use of lubricants during sexual activity, and men ever have taken any type of medicine or pills such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, or Spedra to assist erectile performance, in 60–75-year-old females with and without lubrication difficulties (%).

	Norway			Denmark			Belgium			Portugal
	Lubrication difficulties	No difficulties		Lubrication difficulties	No difficulties		Lubrication difficulties	No difficulties		Lubrication difficulties	No difficulties
Use of lubricants
No	52.5	79.5	***	57.1	81.1	***	56.6	91.8	***	58.4	82.8	**
Yes	47.5	20.5		42.9	18.9		43.4	8.2		41.6	17.2
	n = 160	n = 215		n = 147	n = 196		n = 99	n = 98		n = 77	n = 58
Use of medication
No	80.0	85.5	ns	79.3	80.9	ns	78.8	86.3	ns	89.6	83.6	ns
Yes	20.0	14.5		20.7	19.1		21.2	13.7		10.4	16.4
	n = 160	n = 214		n = 150	n = 199		n = 104	n = 95		n = 77	n = 61

ns: not significant. Tested for statistically significant group differences by means of Chi-square test.

** p < .01; *** p < .001.

Table 4. The use of medication to improve erectile function in 60–75-year-old men, by selected predictors (n = 1027).

	Norway			Denmark			Belgium			Portugal
	n	Percent users		n	Percent users		n	Percent users		n	Percent users
Age			p = .144			p = .856			p = .247			p = 0.644
60–64 years	183	22.4		112	20.5		107	19.6		68	10.3
65–69 years	174	25.3		133	23.3		130	20.8		72	15.3
70–75 years	151	31.8		174	21.3		133	27.8		53	11.3
Level of education
Primary	216	27.8	p = .721	269	23.4	p = .557	213	18.3	p = .047	158	12.7	p = 0.922
Secondary	173	26.0		108	18.5		89	27.0		34	11.8
Tertiary	118	23.7		40	20.0		67	31.3		1	0
Cardio-vascular disease
No	297	25.3	p = .495	169	16.6	p = .036	196	18.4	p = .023	77	13.0	p = 0.850
Yes	211	28.0		250	25.2		173	28.3		116	12.1
Diabetes
No	459	25.1	p = .062	389	20.6	p = .019	313	20.1	p = .002	155	12.9	p = 0.691
Yes	48	37.5		31	38.7		57	38.6		38	10.5
Prostate cancer
No	393	23.9	p = .032	324	20.7	p = .341	263	20.2	p = .038	154	9.1	p = 0.004
Yes	115	33.9		95	25.3		106	30.2		38	26.3
Frequency of sexual intercourse			p = .246			p = .192			p = .010			p = 0.763
None	129	22.5		124	15.3		98	12.2		36	11.1
Once /month	70	18.6		72	20.8		78	35.9		22	4.5
2–3 times/month	134	31.3		109	22.9		100	24.0		28	17.9
Once/week	101	32.7		71	31.0		67	23.9		56	14.3
2–3 times/week	55	23.6		37	24.3		22	22.7		37	10.8
Daily	10	25.0		2	0		4	0		5	20.0
	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range
Alcohol consumption	6.56 (n = 501)	8.10	0–67	10.88 (n = 406)	11.17	0–84	10.21 (n = 363)	10.32	0–72	8.34 (n = 180)	8.96	0–60
Anxiety	1.41 (n = 629)	0.50	1–3.75	1.38 (n = 514)	0.53	1–4.75	1.59 (n = 471)	0.63	1–5	1.64 (n = 210)	0.61	1-4.5

Tested for statistically significant group differences by means of Chi-square test.

Table 5. The use of medication to improve erectile function in 60–75-year-old men, by selected predictors (n = 1027).

	AOR	95% CI	Sign.
Age (in 1 year’s increase)	1.02	0.98–1.05	.400
Level of education (in one unit increase)	1.14	0.91–1.43	.269
Alcohol consumption (in one glass increase)	1.02	1.02–1.04	.002
Cardio-vascular disease
No	1.00		.175
Yes	1.24	0.91–1.70
Diabetes
No	1.00		.003
Yes	1.95	1.25–3.05
Prostate cancer
No	1.00		.115
Yes	1.31	0.94–1.84
Anxiety (in one unit increase)	1.03	0.77–1.37	.867
Erectile difficulties
No	1.00		.000
Yes	5.81	4.02–8.39
Frequency of sexual intercourse (in one unit increase)	1.22	1.09–1.37	.001
Country
Norway different from Portugal	0.39	0.21–0.71	.002
Norway different from Denmark	0.71	0.47–1.06	.092
Norway different from Belgium	0.64	0.43–0.95	.028

The first column shows the multivariate logistic regression analysis [adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for using the medication, weighted data].

Table 6. The use of lubricants during sex in 60–75-year-old women, by selected predictors.

	Norway			Denmark			Belgium			Portugal
	n	Percent users		n	Percent users		n	Percent users		n	Percent users
Age			p = .597			p = .861			p = .649			p = .553
60–64 years	170	29.4		112	28.6		104	21.2		64	26.6
65–69 years	147	34.0		125	29.6		63	25.4		57	33.3
70–75 years	107	29.0		139	26.6		51	27.5		34	23.5
Level of education
Primary	214	28.5	p = .254	230	28.3	p = .211	142	21.1	p = .317	124	29.0	p = .663
Secondary	163	35.6		120	24.2		55	27.3		27	29.6
Tertiary	46	26.1			41.7		20	35.0
Ovary and breast cancer
No	401	30.4	p = .380	339	27.7	p = .719	190	24.7	p = .425	2	0	p = .138
Yes	23	39.1		36	30.6		28	17.9		143	30.1
Hormone replacement therapy
No	258	29.1	p = .342	224	23.2	p = .016	155	22.6	p = .665	102	22.5	p = .016
Yes	152	33.6		147	34.7		55	25.5		51	41.2
Pain during intercourse
No	298	25.8	p = .000	264	26.1	p = .012	138	14.5	p = .000	95	18.9	p = .000
Yes	76	53.9		70	41.4		48	47.9		38	55.3
Frequency of sexual intercourse			p = .255			p = .023			p = .144			p = .108
None	120	27.5		127	20.5		78	16.7		29	27.6
Once /month	67	34.3		53	22.6		29	41.4		38	18.4
2–3 times/month	115	27.0		75	40.0		51	27.5		33	24.2
Once/week	71	40.8		79	35.4		37	24.3		27	40.7
2–3 times/week	42	33.3		33	21.2		20	20.0		20	45.0
Daily	3	0		1	0		2	50.0		1	100.0
	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range
Alcohol consumption	3.54 (n = 495)	4.79	0–41	6.13 (n = 395)	6.84	0–50	4.36 (n = 401)	6.73	0–56	2.01 (n = 201)	3.42	0–21

Tested for statistically significant group differences by means of Chi-square test.

Table 7. The use of lubricants during sex in 60–75-year-old women, by selected predictors (n = 829).

	AOR	95% CI	Sign.
Age (in 1 year’s increase)	0.99	0.96–1.04	0.789
Level of education (in one unit increase)	1.11	0.87–1.43	0.388
Alcohol consumption (in one glass increase)	0.99	0.96–1.02	0.455
Ovary and breast cancer
No	1.00		0.905
Yes	1.04	0.56–1.92
Hormone replacement therapy
No	1.00		0.002
Yes	1.74	1.23–2.44
Pain difficulties during sex
No	1.00		0.000
Yes	3.81	2.63–5.52
Frequency of sexual intercourse (in one unit increase)	1.17	1.03–1.32	0.013
Country
Norway different from Portugal	1.00	0.57–1.75	0.996
Norway different from Denmark	0.99	0.66–1.48	0.954
Norway different from Belgium	0.66	0.40–1.07	0.091

The first column shows the multivariate logistic regression analysis [adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for using the lubricants, weighted data].