Research published in June 2019 in The American Journal of Medicine showed that heart attack survivors who had sex more than once a week were 27 percent less likely to die during the 22 year study period compared with those who did not have sex at all. The likelihood of dying was 12 percent less for those who had intercourse once a week and 8 percent less for those who were intimate less than once a week but still had relations occasionally. The results support previous investigations indicating that sex may boost heart health, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. “In the past, most studies examined the short-term association between sexual activity frequency and death in cardiac patients,” says Shlomit Brandis Kepler, lead author of the study and a professor with the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Tel Aviv University’s School of Public Health in Israel. “Our study examined the long-term effect of sexual activity with death in patients after a heart attack and observed an inverse association between reported frequency of sexual activity and mortality.” Over 22 years, Kepler and colleagues followed 1,120 individuals ages 65 and younger (the average age at the start of the study was 53) who had survived a heart attack. Participants, all from Israel, reported their frequency of sexual activity when hospitalized for the first heart attack and then after five years and again after 10 to 13 years. In general, scientists noted that those having sex more often were younger. Frequency of sexual activity declined with age. The average age in the no-sex category was 57.5 compared with 49 for those having sex more than once a week.
Reasons for Low Sexual Activity
The study highlighted that lack of a partner and medical problems unrelated to heart disease were the most common reasons cited for sexual abstinence. About 94 percent of those having sex more than once a week had a steady live-in partner compared with just 31 percent for those having no sex. Of those having sex frequently, 69 percent reported no other chronic illnesses compare with 46 percent among the abstainers. “Although the study did suggest a survival advantage for those who engaged in regular sexual activity, that advantage appeared less substantial after the researchers controlled for factors such as age, depression, and other medical conditions,” says Sarah Samaan, MD, a cardiologist with Baylor Scott & White Legacy Heart Center in Plano, Texas. Dr. Samaan, who was not involved in the research, suggests that erectile dysfunction may contribute to celibacy among male heart attack survivors. “Erectile dysfunction is often caused by the same factors that lead to a heart attack — hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol, which can harm all the blood vessels in the body, including those that supply the penis,” she says. “Men who were less likely to have sex may well have been in that situation because of more advanced cardiovascular disease.”
Sex Has Its Benefits but Other Factors May Be Boosting Heart Health
Study authors emphasize that their findings suggest a relationship between increased sexual activity and lower mortality — not that sex causes longevity. Those who were sexually active and had lower death rates also tended to be more physically active and younger to begin with, both factors that help protect the heart. Research results may have been limited by the fact that participants self-reported their sexual activity, they were from one geographic location, and only 14 percent were women. “In this study, women were less likely to have regular intercourse, but there is no explanation given as to why that might be the case and relatively few women were included,” says Samaan. Still, previous research supports the idea that regular sexual activity may protect the heart. An earlier report, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, observed that men who had sex twice a week had less risk of cardiovascular disease. In a scientific statement published in the journal Circulation, the American Heart Association (AHA) said that “sexual activity is an important component of patient and partner quality of life for men and women with cardiovascular disease (CVD), including many elderly patients. Decreased sexual activity and function are common in patients with CVD and are often interrelated to anxiety and depression." The AHA does warn, however, that some research has shown a “minuscule” increased risk of cardiovascular events associated with sexual activity. “After a heart attack, we may advise a patient to gradually get back to normal activity, but it is rare to advise someone to abstain completely,” says Samaan. “Usually with the help of cardiac rehabilitation, people can return to normal function quite quickly.”
