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Men have shorter life spans than women on average, but whenit comes to sexual life expectancy, the guys have the advantage.

At age 55, men have an average of 15 years of sexual activity ahead of them,while women average just 10, according to a new survey of middle-age and olderAmericans.

"Overall, men were more likely than women to besexually active, to report a good quality sex life, and to be interested andthinking about sex on a regular basis," lead researcher Stacy TesslerLindau, director of the Program in Integrative Sexual Medicine at theUniversity of Chicago, told LiveScience.

Sex and gender gap

Few studies have examined the connection between sexualhealth and aging. To do so, Lindau and her team used data from twonationally representative surveys of 3,000 25- to 74-year-olds and another3,000 57- to 86-year-olds. The respondents answered questions about theirgeneral health as well as their sexual activity, sexual satisfactionand desire.

Much of the news was good. In middle age, two-thirds ofwomen and men report good quality sex. The researchers also found people ingood or excellent health were almost twice as likely to be interested in sexcompared with those in poor or fair health. Good or excellent health at age 55added five to seven years to men's sexual life expectancy and three to sixyears to women's.

But the study also uncovered a sexual gender gap. For30-year-old men, they can expect 35 years more of sexual activity and 45 years moreof life. Thirty-year-old women can expect 31 more years of sexual activity, but50 more years of life. That means men will spend 78 percent of life after 30having sex, compared with just 61 percent for women.

The gap increases with age. At 75 and older, 40 percent ofmen were sexually active compared with just 17 percent of women. The disparityis driven largely by the fact that women tend to outlive their male partners,Lindau said. In women and men with partners, the gap disappears.

More sex questions

Other findings open up new questions. Among women in latelife who were having sex, only half called the sex good. In comparison, almosttwo-thirds of men aged 75 and up found their sex lives satisfying. That findingtroubles Lindau.

"Only half of the women in this age group who aresexually active say that they have a good sex life," she said. "Whyis this, and what can be done to maximize not just sexual function, but qualityof sex life?"

Part of the answer may be pharmacological. Men who respondedto the sexual health questions in 2005 and 2006 reported a significantlyincreased interestin sex compared with men who took the survey 10 years earlier. Women didn'tshow a change. That might not be a coincidence, Lindau said.

"Over time, we've seen the introduction of reallyeffective treatments for male erectile dysfunction, which is one of the mostcommon problems for men as they get older," she said. "For women wehaven't seen the same."

The study gives researchers a new understanding of who mightbenefit from policies to address later-life sexual health, Lindau said.

But, she said, there are still huge gaps in thatunderstanding. Because almost all of the survey respondents identified asheterosexual, researchers know almost nothing about the sexual health of oldergay, lesbian and bisexualindividuals. Those populations are particularly vulnerable, Lindau said,because they may keep problems from their doctors for fear of discrimination orjudgment.

"We really need that data," Lindau said.

The study was published online March 9 by the BritishMedical Journal.

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• Original Story: Men Outlive Women Sexually