‘Please talk about it’: Patients with heart disease want more guidance on sexual health
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Key takeaways:
- Patients with heart disease want more information about their sexual health, according to survey results.
- Only 5% of survey respondents reported receiving this information.
CHICAGO — Results from a new survey highlight a gap between patients’ information needs about sexual health and the actual support provided by health care professionals.
In a small survey of patients with CVD in Sweden, 78% expressed a need for information about sexual health, but only 5% reported receiving this information.
“A large number of patients, independent of age and gender, really feel that their condition is [affecting] their sexual health and that they currently do not get enough information and support,” Tiny Jaarsma, PhD, professor of nursing at Linköping University, Sweden, told Healio.
Three-quarters of respondents reported that their sexual health was impacted by their CVD and also had an effect on their overall mood and well-being, Jaarsma reported at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Men were more likely than women to say their CVD impacted their sexual health (65% vs. 35%; P = .02) and that sexual health affected their mood and well-being (64% vs. 36%; P < .01), according to the survey results.
Eighty-seven percent of men and 64% of women cited a desire for information on sexual health (P = .02 for comparison).
Topics that patients with CVD most want to discuss included:
- adverse events of medications (60%);
- erectile dysfunction (50%);
- impact of sex on relationships (47%);
- anxiety before sex (35%); and
- pain during sex (13%).
Overall, patients wanted to receive information on sexual health from a health care professional (79%), particularly during annual check-ups (57%) and/or upon diagnosis (51%) or medication follow-ups (40%).
“People with a cardiac illness ... want to know more about sexual health. Please talk about it!” Jaarsma told Healio.
The results are based on anonymous survey questions about access to sexual health information and perceptions about connections to CV health. Jaarsma reported information from 135 respondents aged 30 to 89 years (mean age, 65 years) in Sweden. Half (47%) had hypertension, 35% had an MI, 30% had atrial fibrillation and 24% had HF.
Jaarsma told Healio the researchers “were curious to know what the current status of providing [sexual health] information is, and what patients want and need.”
The survey was administered only to patients in Sweden, so the results may not be generalizable elsewhere.
The AHA recommends that people who have had an MI or who have a diagnosis of CVD and/or stroke should check with a health care professional before resuming sexual activity, according to a press release from the AHA.
Looking ahead, we need “more studies on how to equip patients better to be able to ask their questions and health care professionals on how to bring up the subject in a professional and safe way,” Jaarsma told Healio.
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Jaarsma T, et al. Abstract MDP1162. Presented at: American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; Nov. 16-18, 2024; Chicago.
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