Objective:

to evaluate the experiences of sexuality and its correlation with frailty among older adults.

Materials and methods:

cross-sectional study carried out with a total of 250 older adults living in the North-east of Brazil. They answered three instruments to obtain biosocio-demographic, sexuality and frailty data. The analysis was performed using Spearman correlation, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test with 95 % confidence interval.

Results:

sexual intercourse was negatively correlated with reduced strength (p = -0.263; p < 0.001) and walking speed (p = -0.201; p = 0.001) and positively correlated with reported fatigue (p = 0.149; p = 0.018). Affective relationships were negatively correlated with reduced strength (p = -0.254; p < 0.001) and walking speed (p = -0.207; p = 0.001) and positively correlated with reported fatigue (p = 0.207; p = 0.001). Finally, physical and social adversities were positively correlated with reduced strength (p = 0.279; p < 0.001), reduced walking speed (p = 0.261; p < 0.001) and low physical activity (p = 0.140; p = 0.034), in addition to being negatively correlated with reported fatigue (p = -0.171; p = 0.009).

Conclusion:

it was found that the sexuality of older adults is better experienced in affective relationships and weak positive and negative correlations between sexuality and frailty.

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