Sex after a heart attack

HEALTHCARE professionals are urged to counsel heart and stroke patients on how to resume a healthy sex life, according to a joint statement published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation and the European Heart Journal. It is the first scientific statement to offer detailed guidance for patients.

“Patients are anxious and often afraid sex will trigger another cardiac event – but the topic sometimes gets passed over because of embarrassment or discomfort,” said Dr Elaine Steinke, lead author of the statement and professor of nursing at Wichita State University in Kansas, US.