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Sexual activity and cognitive decline in older age: a prospective cohort study

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Abstract

Background

To explore the association between sexual activity and change in cognitive function over 4 years in a representative sample of older adults in England.

Methods

Data were from 1963 men and 2513 women participating in Wave 6 (2012/2013) and Wave 8 (2016/2017) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Participants reported whether or not they had engaged in any sexual activity in the last year. Cognitive function was assessed with tests of immediate and delayed recall. Adjusted general linear models were used to test associations between sexual activity and changes in cognitive function.

Results

Men who were sexually active at baseline had better preservation in immediate (0.18 points, 95% CI 0.07–0.29, p = 0.002) and delayed recall (0.19 points, 95% CI 0.08–0.29, p = 0.001) over 4-year follow-up. No significant associations were observed for women.

Discussion

Strengths of this study include large, representative sample, longitudinal design and adjustment for a wide range of potential confounders. The observational nature of our study means we cannot deduce the exact direction of effect of our findings. In addition, cognitive ability test scores in older people may reflect not only a possible decline, but also their peak prior cognitive ability; but we did not have any information regarding the trajectories of their cognitive function during the lifespan.

Conclusion

Health practitioners should be encouraged to screen older men relating to their sexual activity to identify those who may be at risk of cognitive decline. Older men will be heartened to know that sexual activity may aid in the prevention of age-related decline in cognition.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK

    Lee Smith

  2. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Igor Grabovac

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Lin Yang

  4. Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Guillermo F. López-Sánchez

  5. NICM Health Research Institute, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Joe Firth

  6. Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, 9135400, Jerusalem, Israel

    Damiano Pizzol

  7. Division of Psychology, School of Psychology and Sports Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

    Daragh McDermott

  8. National Research Council, Neuroscience Institute, Aging Branch, Padua, Italy

    Nicola Veronese

  9. Department of Behavioural Science and Health, UCL, London, UK

    Sarah E. Jackson

Authors
  1. Lee Smith
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  2. Igor Grabovac
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  3. Lin Yang
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  4. Guillermo F. López-Sánchez
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  5. Joe Firth
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  6. Damiano Pizzol
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  7. Daragh McDermott
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  8. Nicola Veronese
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  9. Sarah E. Jackson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lee Smith.

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Statement of human and animal rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Smith, L., Grabovac, I., Yang, L. et al. Sexual activity and cognitive decline in older age: a prospective cohort study. Aging Clin Exp Res 32, 85–91 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01334-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01334-z

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