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Introduction: The desire for sexual intimacy is described as a biological force, and a cognitive experience1. Collectively, experts agree that it is a condition not necessarily reflected in an individual’s actions. Within a population, strong or normal sexual desires for intimacy are associated with mixtures of emotion that are contextual; ranging from positive to negative. What is known is that desire for sexual intimacy decreases as a population ages, and can differ by gender. This study investigates age and gender related prevalence of the desire for sexual intimacy in a population of adult ostomates from North America and the UK (n=2,721).
Methods: The data is derived from the Ostomy Comprehensive Health and Life Assessment2: a validated and reliable survey distributed in North America and the United Kingdom. The instrument is a self reported multi-item survey querying major facets of the lives of persons having undergone ostomy surgery.
Results and Discussion: The survey indicates 54% of ostomates consider their desire for sexual intimacy to be weak or non-existent however, this does not consider age or gender influence. Age and gender are shown to be factors in the decrease in desire for sexual intimacy: ranging from 14% in males less than 45 years old to 86% in females over the age of 74. The age related correlation for males is r=0.36, and for females is 0.39.
A comparison between males and females indicates that for age groups within the study, males are significantly less likely to self report weak or no desire for sexual intimacy.
Conclusions: Attempts to quantify desire for sexual intimacy in a population of those that have undergone a life changing event, such as ostomy surgery, must not only consider the psycho-socio aspects of the surgery, but must also consider the effects of gender and age as covariates.
Methods: The data is derived from the Ostomy Comprehensive Health and Life Assessment2: a validated and reliable survey distributed in North America and the United Kingdom. The instrument is a self reported multi-item survey querying major facets of the lives of persons having undergone ostomy surgery.
Results and Discussion: The survey indicates 54% of ostomates consider their desire for sexual intimacy to be weak or non-existent however, this does not consider age or gender influence. Age and gender are shown to be factors in the decrease in desire for sexual intimacy: ranging from 14% in males less than 45 years old to 86% in females over the age of 74. The age related correlation for males is r=0.36, and for females is 0.39.
A comparison between males and females indicates that for age groups within the study, males are significantly less likely to self report weak or no desire for sexual intimacy.
Conclusions: Attempts to quantify desire for sexual intimacy in a population of those that have undergone a life changing event, such as ostomy surgery, must not only consider the psycho-socio aspects of the surgery, but must also consider the effects of gender and age as covariates.