Sexual activity does not increase MI risk

Sexual activity does not appear to be associated with increased risk for subsequent MI, and patients can safely resume sexual activity after MI, according to a new report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The prospective cohort study included 536 adults aged 30 to 70 years who were enrolled in an inpatient rehabilitation program after incident CHD-related MI. The mean age of the cohort was 57 years; 85.8% were men.

Sexual activity within the 12 months before MI was evaluated via standardized questionnaire. Overall, 55% of participants reported sexual activity at least one per week during the evaluated study period, 25.4% reported sexual activity less than once per week, 4.7% reported sexual activity less than once per month and 14.9% reported no sexual activity.

One hundred CVD-related events occurred during 10 years of follow-up (overall event rate, 23.9 per 1,000 patient-years). Compared with sexual activity less than once per week, participants with higher rates of sexual activity had reduced risk for CVD events after adjustment for confounders (HR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.31-0.77).

In an analysis of 438 patients who reported the timing of their last sexual activity before MI, 0.7% of participants reported sex within 1 hour of MI and 1.5% reported sex within 3 to 6 hours of MI. In comparison, more than 78% reported that their last sexual activity occurred more than 24 hours before MI, according to a press release.
“Based on our data, it seems very unlikely that sexual activity is a relevant trigger of heart attack,” Dietrich Rothenbacher, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University, Germany, said in the release. “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.” – by Adam Taliercio

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Source: www.healio.com