Women Lack Guidance for Sex After MI

Women resume sex with partners after a heart attack, but do so with worries of another one and without counseling from a healthcare professional, researchers found.

Among a sample of women who had suffered a mycoardial infarction (MI) and who had a significant other, most resumed sexual activity within 4 weeks of the MI, though with less frequency and more physical, nonsexual intimacy than prior to the heart attack, according to Emily Abramsohn, MPH, of the University of Chicago, and colleagues.

A minority of women (35%) received counseling from a healthcare professional about resuming sex following an MI, and those that did only received it after initiating the discussion at the time of hospital discharge, they wrote online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Although more than 80% of patients who experience an MI survive to 1 year, long-term outcomes are not well-documented, particularly in the realm of sexual activity, the authors noted.

"Cardiac rehabilitation guidelines include identification and management of sexual dysfunction, yet evidence-based strategies to improve sexual outcomes, especially in women, following an MI are very limited," they added.

"The problem here is that women would like to resume sex after their heart attack, but they would like to be better informed about what's safe so they can have a more enjoyable sex life," Stacy Lindau, MD, of the University of Chicago Medicine and study co-author, told MedPage Today.

Women resume sex with partners after a heart attack, but do so with worries of recurrent myocardial infarction and without counseling from a healthcare professional. Note that only a minority of women received counseling from a healthcare professional about resuming sex following a myocardial infarction (MI), and those that did only received it after initiating the discussion at the time of hospital discharge.

The authors attempted to understand and inform evidence-based strategies in improving female sexual outcomes post MI through interviews with 17 female MI patients who had a significant other and who were participating in the TRIUMPH (Translational Research Investigating Underlying Disparities in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients' Health Status Registry) study, a prospective, multisite, longitudinal study of MI patients with a mean 12-month follow-up.

Of participants in TRIUMPH, 47% of men and 35% of women received counseling about resuming sexual activity after MI. Those who were not counseled were significantly less likely to be sexually active at 1-year follow-up - an effect that was more pronounced in women, they noted.

Sex can kill you, especially if you don't have enough of it.

That's the screwy lesson from a new study which says that for out-of-shape folks, sporadic strenuous activity, like sex, is associated with a 2.7 times increase in the risk of myocardial infarction (doctor speak for heart attack).