Many men with heart disease fear that having sex could kill them, but new research shows the danger is slight.
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute reported Sunday at an American Heart Association conference that only one in every 100 cases of sudden cardiac arrest in men occurred after sexual activity. But 94% of those victims had a history of heart disease, NBC News reports.
The study, to be published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, was the first to look at whether sexual exertion can trigger a heart attack, notes Live Science. Fear of post-sex heart failure has been bolstered by plot lines on TV shows like Mad Men, but in reality, "the risk is very small," senior author Dr. Sumeet Chugh tells NBC. Chugh's team analyzed 4,557 cardiac arrests that occurred between 2002 and 2015, and found that 34 happened within one hour of sexual intercourse.
Read the full story on Newser.com
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