Décès pendant un rapport sexuel : Un cardiologue démonte les idées reçues
People collapsing during sex or dying shortly afterward: these news stories, regularly reported around the world, often raise the same question. Can sexual activity really cause a cardiovascular event? While sex does put stress on the heart, a cardiologist explains why it is rarely the direct cause of death and which groups are most at risk.
In Bignona, the recent death of a 65-year-old shopkeeper during sexual intercourse has revived questions about the cardiovascular risks associated with sexual activity.
Dying during sexual intercourse does not necessarily mean that sexual activity was the cause of death. According to Dr. Aliou Alassane Ngaïdé, a vascular physician, rehabilitation specialist, and sports cardiologist, such situations do exist, but remain extremely rare. In the vast majority of cases, sexual activity is not the direct cause of death. It can, in certain circumstances, act as a trigger in a person suffering from a known or previously undiagnosed cardiovascular disease.
A physical activity that works the heart
The link between sexuality and the cardiovascular system is very real. Sexual activity is first and foremost a physical activity, explains the specialist. As with any exertion, the heart and blood vessels adapt to the intensity of the effort.
As arousal increases, heart rate and blood pressure gradually rise. They reach a peak at the moment of orgasm, before gradually returning to their usual levels during the recovery phase.
In a healthy person, this reaction is generally well tolerated. However, when the heart is weakened, the physical exertion associated with sexual activity can, in rare cases, increase the risk of a cardiovascular event.
The specialist identifies three categories of people who are more at risk: those suffering from coronary artery disease, those with heart failure, and those with serious heart rhythm disorders.
In addition to these pathologies, there are the main cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle and chronic stress.
In people with severe heart rhythm disorders, the accelerated heart rate associated with exertion can, in rare situations, promote ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, two potentially fatal disorders.
Sexual activity is, in reality, nothing more than a trigger for an underlying pathology, whether known or unknown, the cardiologist summarizes.
Age does not condemn one to abstinence.
Older people are often associated with news stories about deaths occurring during sexual intercourse. However, according to the expert, age alone is not a reason to give up on sex. Even at 100, one can have a healthy, fulfilling, and problem-free sex life, he asserts.
With age, however, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases. An older person may also have several risk factors, such as hypertension, a sedentary lifestyle, decreased physical fitness, or multiple health conditions. Therefore, the risk is more closely linked to overall cardiovascular health than to age alone.
For people living with heart disease, the situation also depends on the stability of their condition. Properly managed heart disease does not automatically mean that all sexual activity must be avoided. As soon as the heart condition is stabilized, sexual activity is no longer a risk, the cardiologist emphasizes.
The specialist's message is therefore clear: sex makes the heart work, but it doesn't systematically kill the heart. In a healthy person, this exertion is generally well tolerated. In a person with cardiovascular fragility, it can, in rare circumstances, act as a trigger for an event.
Beyond the sensational news stories, the main issue is to better understand one's cardiovascular health and control risk factors. Because behind a death occurring during sexual intercourse, there can sometimes be a previously undiagnosed heart condition.
Between the myth of sexual activity being dangerous for the heart and medical reality, a nuance is necessary: it is generally not sexual intercourse itself that causes death, but an underlying cardiovascular pathology that the effort can help to reveal or trigger.
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