Sex And Booze Can Give You A

[cojones]

New study shows drinking after heart attack could increase risk of death

by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News

Monday, November 15, 2004

Heavy drinking can be hazardous to your health, but a new study finds that to be especially true if you have heart disease. And if you're a binge drinker you have almost double the risk of death after a heart attack than people who are moderate drinkers.

The American Heart Association study finds that binge drinkers had a 73% greater risk of death after their heart attacks than patients who did not binge. Researchers also say heart attack survivors who binged had a 91% greater risk of dying of any cause, not just related to cardiovascular disease, than patients who only drank moderately. The risk of death was similar regardless of the alcohol consumed.

Researchers defined binge drinking as more than three drinks within in a one to two-hour period. More than 1,800 patients were included in the study. All were heart attack patients and were asked about the amounts and frequency of their alcohol consumption. The study was presented at the AHA's scientific sessions in New Orleans. Meanwhile new research out today suggests that African Americans have a higher long-term death rate after suffering a heart attack than Caucasians.

Duke University Medical Center researchers found similar death rates among 32,000 African American and Caucasian heart attack patients (6.7%/6.6%) 30 days after being treated in a hospital. But one year after treatment, the death rate among African American patients in the study was almost two times greater (1.7) than that of the Caucasian patients (5.0%/2.9%). Researchers say their study was not designed to figure out reasons for the racial disparities but a combination of socioeconomic factors is behind the numbers, including lack of medical insurance.

And finally, a new study from this week's New England Journal of Medicine suggests using a different method of administering the flu shot could stretch the vaccine to cover double the number of people than the current method allows. With the standard flu shot the vaccine is injected into the muscle tissue. With an intradermal shot, the vaccine is injected between the layers of the skin. The technique is less painful and uses only forty percent of the vaccine used with the traditional muscle shot.

The lower-dose intradermal method worked best for people between the ages of 18 and 60. The method was not as effective in people over age 60.

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REALLY?

The Claim: Sex Can Set Off a Heart Attack

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Published: November 16, 2004

HE FACTS Rumors flew in 1979 when Nelson A. Rockefeller died of a heart attack in circumstances described by his speechwriter as "undeniably intimate." But the notion that sexual activity can touch off a heart attack has been around for some time.

Experts say the belief that physical exertion in the bedroom places strain on the heart prompts many heart patients to limit their sexual activities or to abstain altogether.

While there appears to be some truth to the claim, research suggests that it is largely exaggerated.

In 1996, a team of scientists at Harvard conducted a study of more than 800 heart attack survivors around the country. Their findings, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that the chance of sex causing a heart attack was about two in a million, even in subjects who had already had one attack.

That is double the risk for healthy people in the hours after sexual intercourse, they said, but still no real cause for concern for most people with cardiovascular disease.

The study did not look at the intensity of the sexual activity or whether the relations were extramarital. It found that the risk of suffering a heart attack brought on by sex dropped as the participants' amount of exercise increased. People who exercised the most had virtually no risk.

In 2001, a group of Swedish researchers who studied 699 heart attack survivors reported similar results, finding that the risk was small but highest among patients who were sedentary. Their study appeared in the journal Heart.

"While there is some truth to the mythology," said Dr. Murray Mittleman, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an author of the 1996 study, "the absolute increase in risk is so small that for the vast majority of people it should be one less thing to worry about."

THE BOTTOM LINE Sexual activity can set off a heart attack, although the risk is extremely low.

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[Simbo]

I thought it was traffic jams?

[dugdig]

Its the sex in the traffic jams that does you in!!

[ProfessorFart]

I once had a mild heart attack (and a splendid w*nk) after watching a pizza cook.

They should ban that next..........

[dugdig]

I once had a mild heart attack (and a splendid w*nk) after watching a pizza cook.

They should ban that next..........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree completely! Being illegal always gives it a little extra tingle!

[PeaceBlondie]

As for ethyl alchohol, it's a poison. Binge drinking is for stupid university students to die from.

But sex? Well, heart attacks can be brought on by exertion which is excessive, but once you're in shape for that kind of exercise, there's no special exertion. So, just keep in shape by regular sexual exercise!

[Stocky]

Its the sex in the traffic jams that does you in!!

No it's the sex in the traffic jams after a few beers that does you in!!

Especially if you're a smoker who likes junk food.