Study First to Report Sexual Behavior Norms for U.S. Adults with Dementia Living at Home

Most partnered, home-dwelling people in the United States with dementia are sexually active, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society . In addition, people with cognitive impairment and dementia often have bothersome sexual function problems that they do not discuss with a doctor, according to a release published by EurekAlert! . The researchers found that of partnered people with dementia in their study, 59 percent of men and 51 percent of women were sexually active. The likelihood of partnered sexual activity declined with lower cognitive scores for both women and men in the study. More than a third of males and 10 percent of females with dementia reported bothersome sexual problems, but only 17 percent and 1 percent, respectively, talked to a physician about sex life changes that result from a medical condition like dementia.