A study by the St. George’s University of London has found that younger people could also die during sex. Most people believe that only older couples could die from sudden heart attacks during sex, but this study challenged that belief.
How researchers conducted the study
Researchers looked into 6900 instances from 1994 to 2020 of sudden cardiac death. The team found that the cases of people having heart attacks one hour after sex was only 17. This figure accounted for only 0.2%, suggesting that the occurrence was very rare.
The researchers also found that the average age of the people who died during sex was 38%. Moreover, 35% of these people were women. Surprisingly, these results weren’t consistent with those from other studies.
In a past study in Germany, researchers looked into 32,000 cases of sudden cardiac death. This research also found that 0.2% of the cases were after sex. However, the study also showed that those who had cardiac death after sex were an average age of 59 and predominantly male.
The men in these cases died from myocardial infarction. Despite this, researchers noted that there could be other causes of death.
Reasons people could die during sex
According to David Gaze, a chemical pathology lecturer from the University of Westminster, there are several reasons people die during sex. One reason is strenuous sexual activity. Another is the effect of prescription drugs people take to treat erectile dysfunction. Illegal drugs such as cocaine could even be a cause. Notably, Gaze wasn’t part of the study.
The team confirmed Gaze’s theory. They noted that heart attacks were less common in people who had died during sex. In fact, about 53% of the victims had healthy hearts. Death was often a result of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS). A sudden abnormal heart rhythm characterizes this disorder.
Aortic dissection was the cause in 12% of the cases. In this case, the aorta, which supplies blood from the heart to the body, tore. As a result, blood would flow between layers of the artery, making it bulge then burst.
Channelopathies, a rare genetic illness, were a rare cause for the disease. With these disorders, channels that facilitate the passage of potassium and sodium in and out of heart cells would stop working efficiently. These conditions led to an irregular heartbeat.
