CHICAGO, March 10 (UPI) -- Men are more likely than women to be sexually active, report a good quality sex life and be interested in sex, U.S. researchers found.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found the gender differences increased with age and were greatest among the 75- to 85-year-old group.
For this age group, 38.9 percent of men compared with 16.8 percent of women were sexually active, 70.8 percent versus 50.9 percent of those who were sexually active had a good quality sex life, and 41.2 percent versus 11.4 percent were interested in sex.
Stacy Tessler Lindau, associate professor, and Natalia Gavrilova, senior research associate, both of the University of Chicago, found men and women reporting very good or excellent health were more likely to be sexually active compared with their peers in poor or fair health.
At age 30, sexually active life expectancy was 34.7 years for men and 30.7 years for women compared with 14.9 to 15.3 years for men and 10.6 years for women at age 55. At age 55, men in very good or excellent health on average gained 5-7 years of sexually active life compared with their peers in poor or fair health.
The study involved 3,032 adults ages 25-74 -- 1,561 women, 1,471 men -- and 3,005 adults ages 57-85 -- 1,550 women, 1,455 men.
