Does Sexual Activity Affect Heart Attack Risk?

Heart disease patients should be encouraged to resume sexual activity post-heart attack, according to a recent study.

While there is limited data on the potential harms and benefits of sexual activity in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), many patients worry about the risk of triggering another heart attack through exertion.
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In order to investigate whether sexual activity during the 12 months before a heart attack affected subsequent risk of adverse cardiac events, researchers conducted a prospective cohort study of 536 patients with heart disease between 30 and 70 years old.

Using a Cox proportional hazards model, researchers estimated the association between the frequency of sexual activity and risk of subsequent adverse events during 10 years of follow-up.

Overall, 14.9% of patients reported no sexual activity in the year before their heart attack, 4.7% reported less than once per month, 25.4% reported less than once per week, and 55% reported 1 or more times per week.  

Only 0.7% of patients reported sexual activity within an hour before their heart attack, while 78% reported that their last sexual activity was at least 24 hours before their heart attack.

“Based on our data, it seems very unlikely that sexual activity is a relevant trigger of heart attack,” they concluded.

“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.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:
American College of Cardiology. Sex does not increase heart attack risk [press release]. September 21, 2015. http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=156429&CultureCode=en.