Randy U.S. seniors fuelling ‘alarming’ spike in STI rates: Report

Published Sep 22, 2024  •  2 minute read

Hot and bothered American seniors are behind an "alarming" spike in sexually transmitted infections, according to CDC data. Photo by Getty Images /iStockphoto

If granny or grampy’s Buick LeSabre is a rockin’, don’t go a knockin’.

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Just make sure to toss them a box of condoms.

Hot and bothered American seniors have spawned an “alarming” spike in sexually transmitted infections, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data cited by the New York Post. Older adults in South Dakota, Alaska and Washington, D.C., are leading the charge in the hormone-fuelled hijinks.

More than 2.5 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia were reported in the U.S. in 2022, the CDC data said, via the Post, and experts believe last year’s numbers — which are not yet available — “will be worse.”

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Health officials in the U.S. have said there is an “urgent need” to address the epidemic, with rates of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in sexually active people older than 55 more than doubling from 2012 to 2022, the Post reported.

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Syphilis cases in that age group increased seven-fold over the 10-year span, gonorrhea cases nearly quintupled and chlamydia cases more than tripled, the Post reported.

Syphilis rates peaked the most in the Mount Rushmore state as South Dakota saw 6.1 cases per 100,000 people, via the Daily Mail. Gonorrhea cases were highest in Washington, D.C., with 29 cases per 100,000 people, while Alaska’s randy grandparents led the nation in chlamydia (18 cases per 100,000.)

Experts believe the surge could be happening because people are living longer and maintaining active lifestyles into their golden years, according to the Post.

Compound that with only 8% of sexually active seniors using condoms all the time, according to an AARP survey, and it’s no wonder this issue is causing friction within the medical community.

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“Back in the ’30s, the ’40s, the ’50s, traditional school wasn’t really doing sexual education very formally,” Texas A&M School of Public Health associate professor Matthew Lee Smith told NBC News.

Plus, the topic can still be taboo with health-care providers and seniors themselves, even though older adults have a harder time fighting infections and can be more susceptible to contracting STIs.

“No one wants to think about grandma doing this,” Smith added. “You certainly aren’t going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that’s part of the problem, because every individual regardless of age has the right to intimacy.”

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