MI Patients Rarely Counseled on Resuming Sexual Activity

A new study finds that patients are not often given guidance as to when they can safely resume sexual activity after experiencing a myocardial infarction.

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In a survey of 3,500 adults between the ages of 18 and 55, who had experienced a myocardial infarction, a team including researchers from the University of Chicago and the Yale University School of Medicine found that just 12% of women and 19% of men discussed sex with their physicians. Among them, roughly one-third were advised that they could resume sexual activity without restrictions. According to the authors, female sex, older age, and baseline sexual inactivity were predictors of not receiving counseling. 

“Primary care practitioners should be aware that a younger patient with an acute myocardial infarction [AMI] likely cares about resuming sexual activity, but probably did not receive any direction about this in the context of AMI care,” says Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago, and lead author of the study. 

Among study participants who reported discussing sexual activity with their physicians in the month after experiencing an AMI, 68% were given restrictions, including limiting sex (35%), taking a more passive role in sexual activities (26%), and/or keeping the heart rate down during sex (23%).

“The primary care practitioner is well-positioned to talk with the patient about the transition back to regular physical activities, including sex,” says Lindau. “The guidelines say it’s OK to resume sex about a week after an uncomplicated AMI, and as long as mild [or] moderate physical activity is tolerable.”

Ideally, she says, the primary care physician “would get a hand-off from the treating cardiologist about the nature of the AMI and any special concerns. Patients tell us they do want their cardiologist’s input, because the cardiologist ‘knows my heart best.’”

—Mark McGraw

Reference:

 Lindau S, Abramsohn E, et al. Sexual Activity and Counseling in the First Month After Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) Among Younger Adults in the United States and Spain: A Prospective, Observational Study. Circulation. 2014.