Ventricular arrhythmias during sexual activity in patients with coronary artery disease

Study objective: Information on appearance or increase of ventricular arrhythmias during intercourse in patients with coronary disease is still inadequate. This prospective study analyzes patients' rhythm disturbances on sexual activity and compares them with occurrences during daily activities and stress testing. Patients: The study included 88 male outpatients with stable coronary disease; ages ranged from 36 to 66 years (mean, 52 years). Interventions: Patients underwent ambulatory ECG monitoring, which included sexual activity, and a near-maximal ergometric test. Results: Arrhythmia was found during intercourse in 56% of patients, compared to 38% at exercise, Occurrence or exacerbation of ectopic activity was the dominant pattern in patients with arrhythmia at exercise testing (89%), but this exacerbation was found only in 11% of patients during intercourse. Complex ventricular arrhythmia during sex was detected in 12.5% of patients. Conclusions: Two main observations may be drawn from the study, First, rhythm disturbances were not exacerbated during intercourse in most patients. Second, if ventricular ectopic activity occurred on intercourse, it was most often simple and essentially similar to disturbances in daily activity.