A 28-year-old man recently succumbed to a heart attack while having sex, raising concerns on whether sexual intercourse poses a health risk for those with cardiovascular problems.

The deceased, identified as Ajay Parteki from Nagpur, India, died while having sexual intercourse with his girlfriend (a nurse in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh) in a lodge. A driver and welding technician by profession, Parteki had already been suffering from fever for the past few days, his girlfriend revealed.

There’s no evidence of medication consumption of any kind before his death, according to the police.

Dr. Naresh Trehan, managing director at Medanta, told News9 that a person dying from a strenuous activity like sexual intercourse isn’t uncommon.

“It is like jogging. If a person is straining the body while having sex, a cardiac arrest is possible,” Dr. Trehan said, adding that during intercourse, the heart and the body move faster.

“If the heart can pump more blood into the system, all is fine. During sex, the demand for oxygen in the blood goes up. But if there are blockages in the artery (heart), the person can suffer an attack,” he added.

Michael Blaha, MD, MPH, the director of clinical research at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, said that if a person is experiencing any symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat and nausea or indigestion, they should abstain from strenuous activities like sex.

As long as there are no symptoms, the possibility of experiencing a heart attack while having intercourse is very low. He also said that anyone who can jog or walk the stairs without any difficulty can have sex.

Earlier this year, a study published in JAMA Cardiology found that .2% of the total sudden cardiac deaths among middle-aged men autopsied at a hospital in London between 1994 and 2020 were sex-related. The authors noted that sudden cardiac death might occur in various circumstances, including physical exercise and sexual intercourse.

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