The latest study of heterosexual partnerships among British men and women, which appears in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found that 68 percent of the men and women in their late teens used a condom the first time they had sexual intercourse with a new partner, but the figure went down to 38.1 percent of males and 28.8 percent of females aged 35 to 44 years.
In recent years, there has been a large surge in the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the UK. STIs are diseases that can be transmitted by unsafe sex and people of any age can be infected by them. The authors of the study say that people of all ages should practice safe sex.
Researchers from University College London, UK, looked at the heterosexual relationships of 11,161 men and women for a year and interviewed them for the second British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles.
Dr Catherine Mercer, a lecturer in the Centre for Sexual Health & HIV
define Research, University College London, UK, said, "To the best of our knowledge this is the first research to take account of all heterosexual partnerships and not just people's most recent partnerships, which tend to be more established partnerships such as marriages and cohabitations."
"Our study ensures accurate representation of casual partnerships, which are known to be important in the transmission of STIs. People with large numbers of partners contribute disproportionately to STI transmission in populations, “she added.
The study also found that males had intercourse much sooner after first meeting a partner compared to women, with 1 in 5 men claiming they had sex within one day of meeting their partner, compared with one in 10 women.
The partners who had age difference of 5 or more years, condom use was quite low, particularly in relationships between younger women and older men. And the use of condom at the end of a relationship was lower than at the beginning.
The study author said that the results of the study was concerning, particularly given the increasing trend of STIs among middle aged people and the fact that the proportion of partnerships formed by this group will increase as more couples divorce. The people in mid 30s and 40s are leaving long-term relationships, embarking on new ones, going on more dates and having casual, risky sex.
"Increasing rates of STIs diagnosed among those in their 30s and 40s suggest that interventions that promote consistent condom use with new partners are urgently required, not just for young people as has been the focus recently, but for people in their 30s and 40s and older," she said.
According to the Health Protection Agency, UK, rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the increase. In year 2007, there was 6 percent rise in the total number of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as compared with 2006.
Another previous study conducted by West Midlands, England, and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) this year, found that the rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in people over 45 has more than doubled in the last ten years; one reason cited is practicing unsafe sex.
That's quite disturbing and
That's quite disturbing and difficult to solve. Like my friend, he had got the sexually transmitted disease before due to failing in wearing condom. Alhouth it's cured, he still has sex without condom till today.
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