Sexually transmitted disease (STD) diagnoses in the United States rose by 23.8% between 2020 and 2023 in people over the age of 65 — the largest percentage increase among the cohorts analyzed.
A team from Fair Health evaluated data from the organization’s collection of more than 47 billion commercial health insurance claims over the three-year span. The results showed an increase of 16.2% among Americans aged 55 to 64 for all types of STDs. Rates of STDs increased by 8.6% among 35- to 44-year-olds and 7.6% in those 45 to 54. Disease rates decreased by 6.6% for 19- to 24-year-olds and 3.8% for the 18-and-younger group.
The diseases on the rise the quickest in all age groups included syphilis (29.4%), gonorrhea (16.8%) and HIV/AIDS (14.1%). Among people aged 65 and older, there was a 32.2% increase in human papillomavirus (HPV); there was a 21.9% increase in that disease among those 55 to 64. In people ages 45 to 54, HPV diagnoses rose by 11.3%, and in those 35 to 44 years old, they increased by 3.6%; they went down by 18.2% in people ages 19 to 24 and by 3.8% in people under 18.
Gonorrhea grew by 59.2% in men and fell 19.3% in women of all ages. Syphilis diagnoses increased among both sexes and all ages, by 22.9% in men and 46.5% in women.
“It is central to Fair Health’s mission to use our vast repository of claims data to provide data on public health concerns and support research by others,” Robin Gelburd, JD, Fair Health president, said in a statement. “We hope this information brings greater clarity to the incidence of STDs.”
“These findings emphasize the potential value of incorporating meningococcal vaccination into strategies aimed at controlling gonococcal infections, particularly in regions with high incidence rates and limited treatment options due to antibiotic resistance,” the authors wrote.
