Can sex cause a heart attack?

Sex is one of nature’s multi-purpose gifts of pleasure to humanity but sometimes, cases of a  person developing a heart attack and dying while on the activity are heard of. This not only causes some anxiety, but has birthed several myths about sex and heart attacks. However, experts have said that sex is rarely the cause of a heart attack, and most heart disease patients are safe to resume sexual activity after a heart attack.

This disclosure was made in a research letter published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Sexual activity can be a concern for many heart attack patients who worry about exertion triggering another heart event, but data on the harms and benefits of sexual activity in heart disease patients is limited. According to the research letter, sexual activity generally involves moderate physical activity comparable to climbing two staircases or taking a brisk walk.

Livescience reports that the researchers looked at 536 heart disease patients between 30 and 70 years old to evaluate sexual activity in the 12 months before a heart attack and estimate the association of frequency of sexual activity with subsequent cardiovascular events, including fatal heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death.

In a self-reported questionnaire, 14.9 per cent of patients reported no sexual activity in the 12 months before their heart attack, 4.7 per cent reported sex less than once per month, 25.4 per cent reported less than once per week and 55 per cent reported one or more times per week. During 10 years of follow up, 100 adverse cardiovascular events occurred in patients in the study. Sexual activity was not a risk factor for subsequent adverse cardiovascular events.

Researchers also evaluated the timing of the last sexual activity before the heart attack. Only 0.7 per cent reported sex within an hour before their heart attack. In comparison, over 78 per cent reported that their last sexual activity occurred more than 24 hours before the heart attack.

“Based on our data, it seems very unlikely that sexual activity is a relevant trigger of heart attack,” said Dietrich Rothenbacher, M.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study and professor and chair of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University in Ulm, Germany. “Less than half of men and less than a third of women are getting information about sexual activity after heart attack from their doctors. It is important to reassure patients that they need not be worried and should resume their usual sexual activity.”

Dr Funmilayo Akinola, a medical practitioner, said “most of the time, when people die of a heart attack during sex, it’s not sex that’s the cause. It has been discovered that such people, who most times are men, are having illicit sex, that is, they are cheating on their partners. So, the anxiety associated with doing something ‘forbidden’ , the possibility of being caught, guilt, coupled with increased blood pressure, pulse and respiration that occurs during sex can contribute to having a heart problem at the time. However, men over 50 years, who are overweight and do not get sufficient exercise can exert the heart during an intense sex session. The case of sex and the heart should be more of a concern for someone who previously had a heart disease. He has to be clear with his cardiologist about what activities he can take and which he shouldn’t.”

Researchers said that despite the benefits of sexual activity outweighing risks, the potential of erectile dysfunction as a side effect from various cardiovascular protective medications and the risk of a drop in blood pressure from combining certain heart medications with erectile dysfunction medications should be clearly communicated to patients.