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They're gray but still play

A sex study says many elderly remain active.

So Dr. Ruth was right: You are never too old to boogie.

Many seniors are still having sex, and if they aren't, it is likely due to poor health or lack of a partner, the most comprehensive sex survey ever done among 57- to 85-year-olds reveals.

The study was done by scientists at the University of Chicago and published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's about time," said Ruth Westheimer, the 79-year-old sex expert who has crusaded against age bias in intimacy. "Older people should stop looking at their bodies and saying, 'My body doesn't look like it did when I was 25.' "

The federally funded survey of 3,005 men and women did not offer advice but was commissioned because sex is important to health and happiness.

Sex problems can be a warning sign of diabetes, infections, cancer or other health woes. Untreated sex issues can lead to depression and social withdrawal, and people may even stop taking medications because of sexual side effects.

Niels Teunis, an anthropologist and researcher at the Institute of Sexuality, Social Inequality and Health at San Francisco State University, said the survey bolsters the "use it or lose it" factor seen in previous studies.

"If you are doing it, you keep doing it. If you slack off in marriage like when you're in your 40s, it's hard to pick it up when you are older," he said.

Fast Facts:

Some results

- Sex with a partner in the previous year was reported by 73 percent of people ages 57 to 64; 53 percent of those ages 64 to 75; and 26 percent of people 75 to 85. Of those who were active, most said they did it two to three times a month.

- Women at all ages were less likely to be sexually active than men. But they also lacked partners; far more were widowed.

- Most common problem among people having sex: in men, erection trouble (37 percent); in women, low desire (43 percent), vaginal dryness (39 percent) and inability to have an orgasm (34 percent).

- More than half of those aged 57 to 75 said they gave or received oral sex, as did about a third of 75- to 85-year-olds.

[Last modified August 23, 2007, 01:18:45]