Viagra And Widowers Are A Risky Combination
Written by Richard Simmons | Friday, 02 October 2009 | There is 1 comment
the increase was significant and highlighted the lack of sexual awareness
New evidence shows that one of the most ‘at risk’ groups of men to be diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases are those elderly men who have recently become single following the death of their wives. It is thought that the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra which enable older men to have multiple sexual encounters may be part of the reason why the STD statistics are rising in this group.
The study which was done by researchers at the prestigious Harvard Medical School involved the examination of the medical records since 1993 of over 400,000 American couples between the ages of 67 and 99. At the beginning of the study the results clearly showed that men had a 16% greater chance of being infected by a STD in the period from 6 months to 1 year after the death of their wife. On the other hand the wives did not experience a greater risk of STD’s in the same period after the death of their husbands.
Interestingly when the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra arrived on the market in 1998 the 16% figure shot up to 83%! Professor Kirsten Smith commenting on these figures said that it was important to know that the overall figure of these men suffering from STD’s was still low at less than 1% but nevertheless the increase was significant and highlighted the lack of sexual awareness and knowledge among this group of the population. The report showed that the STD gonorrhea was the most common type of infection in men and trichomoniasis was most likely infection for women. Other STD’s reported were syphilis, genital herpes and even HIV.
The manufacturer of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, Pfizer responded to this research by stressing that it was clear on the labeling of the Viagra tablets that the drug could not protect against any STD’s including HIV and that elderly men should always discuss the use of the drug with their doctor. Professor Nicholas Christakis co-authored this study.
