To understand the association of frailty with females’ and males’ self-reported sexual functioning.
Methods
Logistic regression on 5 domains of sexual function by frailty status (robust, pre-frail, frail) were analyzed from 2058 respondents to National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (2010–2011).
Results
Females had similar frailty profiles to males, but more often reported low overall sexual functioning (12.9% v. 4.0%). Compared to robust, pre-frail and frail males had higher odds of sexual function-related: anxiety (pre-frail OR 1.91 95% CI [1.33, 2.74]; frail OR 2.13 95% CI [1.03, 4.41]), negative changes (pre-frail: OR 1.40, 95% CI [1.00, 1.96]; frail: OR 2.42, 95% CI [1.51, 3.89]), and erectile dysfunction (pre-frail: OR 1.81, 95% CI [1.23,2.68]; frail: 2.00, 95% CI [1.00,4.02]); frail females had 1.69 times higher odds (95% CI [1.16,2.48]) of negative changes.
Discussion
Frailty may be a clinical indicator of sexual functioning decline for males more than females.
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