Middle-aged people involved in “swinging” behaviour have similar rates of sexually transmitted diseases to teenagers and gay and bisexual men, according to a Dutch study.Swingers are heterosexual adults who engage in “partner swapping&rd
Middle-aged people involved in “swinging” behaviour have similar rates of sexually transmitted diseases to teenagers and gay and bisexual men, according to a Dutch study.
Swingers are heterosexual adults who engage in “partner swapping” or attend sex clubs for couples.
For the study researchers analysed data from nearly 9000 patient visits at three sexual health/STD clinics in 2007 and 2008.
About 12% reported being swingers – their average age was 43 and swingers older than 45 had higher rates of STDs than swingers younger than 45.
Male swingers over 45% were nearly as likely to have chlamydia and/or gonorrhoea as gay or bisexual men – 10.4% compared to 14.6% for gay and bisexual men and only 2.4% for other heterosexual men.
Nearly 18% of women swingers over 45 had chlamydia, compared to 4% of other heterosexual women and less than 3% of prostitutes.
Other STDs such as syphilis, HIV and hepatitis B were not measured because of their low incidence overall.
