Despite of the fact that life expectancy and overall health has improved for older adults in the last few years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges that many older adults are not equally benefiting due to factors such as economic status, race, and gender. The CDC identifies these inequalities as a expanding problem and is integrating these issues in their agenda (cdc.gov)

Older Adults with sexual transmitted illness display the following criteria to qualify as a vulnerable population:

As future healthcare providers, it is our collective duty to care for those marginalized by society. The elderly specifically face discrimination due to ageism and prejudices by both society and the healthcare realm. We live in a country whose population is getting increasingly older (Baby Boomers), and we need to adjust our healthcare to provide for the needs of the aging population.

Older adults of more than 60 years old lacks knowledge of the protection afforded by condom use (Levine, 2019)

Many older adults believe that they are not at risk of contracting an STI (Levine, 2019)

According to statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on October 8, 2019:

Gonorrhea rose 164 % among Americans age 55 and older between 2014 and 2018

Syphilis rose 120 % in this population

Chlamydia rose 86 % in this population

Australian research found a decrease in condom use among women in those over 40 years of age because they do not need the use of contraception due to menopause (Malta, Temple, Bickerstaffe, Bourchier & Hocking, 2020)

It is of great importance to research and create awareness about the significant increase in sexual transmitted infections in older adults. An undetected STI will cause a  serious negative impact in their health.