Perceived Sexual Difficulties and Sexual Counseling in Men and Women Across Heart Diagnoses: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Ischemic heart disease and heart failure often lead to sexual difficulties in men, but little is known about the sexual difficulties in women and patients with other heart diagnoses or the level of information patients receive about the risk of sexual difficulties. AIM: To investigate perceived sexual difficulties and associated factors in a mixed population of men and women newly diagnosed with heart disease and provide insight into sexual counseling and information given by health care professionals. METHODS: This article reports on a cross-sectional, questionnaire study sent to a randomly selected sample of men and women newly diagnosed with heart failure, ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrillation, or heart valve surgery. Eligible patients were identified by diagnosis using the Danish National Patient Register, which contains all diagnoses. OUTCOMES: Sexual difficulties were self-reported using single-item questions, and factors associated with sexual difficulties were collected from the survey and national registers. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 1,549 men and 807 women (35-98 years old) with heart failure (n = 243), ischemic heart disease (n = 1,036), heart valve surgery (n = 375), and atrial fibrillation (n = 702). Sexual difficulties were reported by 55% of men and 29% of women. In a multiple regression analysis, difficulties in men were associated with being older (≥75 years old; odds ratio [OR] = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.13-3.43), having heart failure (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.16-3.71), diabetes (OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.15-2.82), hypertension (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.06-1.93), receiving ß-blockers (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.02-1.86), or having anxiety (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.34-3.80) or depression (OR = 2.74, 95% CI = 1.38-5.43). In women, difficulties were significantly associated with anxiety (OR = 3.00, 95% CI = 1.51-5.95). A total of 48.6% of men and 58.8% of women did not feel informed about sexuality, and 18.1% of men and 10.3% of women were offered sexual counseling. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Heart disease increases the risk of sexual difficulties and there is a need for improved information and counseling about sex and relationships for patients. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: This large nationwide survey of men and women combined a survey with administrative data from national registries. However, this study used non-validated single-item questions to assess sexual difficulties without addressing sexual distress. CONCLUSION: More than half the men and one fourth the women across common heart diagnoses had sexual difficulties. No difference was found among diagnoses, except heart failure in men. Despite guidelines recommending sexual counseling, sexual difficulties were not met by sufficient information and counseling. Rundblad L, Zwisler AD, Johansen PP, et al. Perceived Sexual Difficulties and Sexual Counseling in Men and Women Across Heart Diagnoses: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study. J Sex Med 2017;14:785-796.

Prognostic impact of physical activity prior to myocardial infarction: Case fatality and subsequent risk of heart failure and death.

Background Animal studies indicate that exercise reduces myocardial damage during myocardial infarction by ischaemic preconditioning. Aim To determine from a prospective cohort study whether the level of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in humans prior to myocardial infarction could modify the course of myocardial infarction by reducing case fatality and the subsequent risk of heart failure and mortality. Methods A total of 14,223 participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study were assessed at baseline in 1976-1978; 1,664 later developed myocardial infarction (mean age at myocardial infarction 70.9 years) and were followed through registries until 2013. We explored the association of LTPA assessed before myocardial infarction with the risk of fatal myocardial infarction, heart failure and all-cause mortality after myocardial infarction. Odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated by logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression models, adjusted for age at myocardial infarction and other potential confounders. Results A total of 425 (25.5%) myocardial infarctions were fatal. Higher levels of LTPA prior to myocardial infarction were associated with lower case fatality: adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval), with reference to sedentary LTPA were 0.68 (0.51-0.89) for light LTPA and 0.53 (0.38-0.74) for moderate/high LTPA. A total of 360 (29.1%) of the 1,239 myocardial infarction survivors developed heart failure and 1,033 (83.4%) died during follow-up. There was no association between LTPA levels prior to myocardial infarction and the risk of heart failure or all-cause mortality after non-fatal myocardial infarction: adjusted HRs for moderate/high versus sedentary LTPA were 1.06 (0.78-1.45) and 0.90 (0.74-1.08), respectively. Conclusion Individuals who were physically active had lower case fatality of myocardial infarction, but survivors were not protected against subsequent heart failure or mortality.

Cardiac rehabilitation increases physical capacity but not mental health after heart valve surgery: a randomised clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: The evidence for cardiac rehabilitation after valve surgery remains sparse. Current recommendations are therefore based on patients with ischaemic heart disease. The aim of this randomised clinical trial was to assess the effects of cardiac rehabilitation versus usual care after heart valve surgery. METHODS: The trial was an investigator-initiated, randomised superiority trial (The CopenHeartVR trial, VR; valve replacement or repair). We randomised 147 patients after heart valve surgery 1:1 to 12 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation consisting of physical exercise and monthly psycho-educational consultations (intervention) versus usual care without structured physical exercise or psycho-educational consultations (control). Primary outcome was physical capacity measured by VO2 peak and secondary outcome was self-reported mental health measured by Short Form-36. RESULTS: 76% were men, mean age 62 years, with aortic (62%), mitral (36%) or tricuspid/pulmonary valve surgery (2%). Cardiac rehabilitation compared with control had a beneficial effect on VO2 peak at 4 months (24.8 mL/kg/min vs 22.5 mL/kg/min, p=0.045) but did not affect Short Form-36 Mental Component Scale at 6 months (53.7 vs 55.2 points, p=0.40) or the exploratory physical and mental outcomes. Cardiac rehabilitation increased the occurrence of self-reported non-serious adverse events (11/72 vs 3/75, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac rehabilitation after heart valve surgery significantly improves VO2 peak at 4 months but has no effect on mental health and other measures of exercise capacity and self-reported outcomes. Further research is needed to justify cardiac rehabilitation in this patient group. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01558765, Results.

When the Topic Turns to Sex: CASE SCENARIOS IN SEXUAL COUNSELING AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE.

Patients with cardiovascular disease and their partners frequently have concerns about sexual intimacy, and sexual counseling is needed across health care settings to ensure that patients receive information to safely resume sexual activity. The purpose of this review is to provide practical, evidence-based approaches to enable health care providers to discuss sexual counseling, illustrated by several case scenarios. Evidence shows that patients expect health care providers to initiate sexual activity discussions, although providers may be hesitant and often rely on patients to ask questions. Although some providers cite lack of knowledge or confidence in their ability to provide sexual counseling, others mention time pressures in the clinical setting. Although such barriers exist, sexual counseling can be individualized to the cardiac condition of a patient with a few select questions. The representative examples of patients with angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass surgery, heart failure, and implantable cardioverter defibrillator are used to illustrate key points and provide a model for sexual counseling in practice.

The CopenHeartSF trial--comprehensive sexual rehabilitation programme for male patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ischaemic heart disease and impaired sexual function: protocol of a randomised clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Sexuality is an important part of people's physical and mental health. Patients with heart disease often suffer from sexual dysfunction. Sexual dysfunction has a negative impact on quality of life and well-being in persons with heart disease, and sexual dysfunction is associated with anxiety and depression. Treatment and care possibilities seem to be lacking. Studies indicate that non-pharmacological interventions such as exercise training and psychoeducation possess the potential of reducing sexual dysfunction in patients with heart disease. The CopenHeartSF trial will investigate the effect of a comprehensive sexual rehabilitation programme versus usual care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: CopenHeartSF is an investigator-initiated randomised clinical superiority trial with blinded outcome assessment, with 1:1 central randomisation to sexual rehabilitation plus usual care versus usual care alone. Based on sample size calculations, 154 male patients with impaired sexual function due to implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ischaemic heart disease will be included from two university hospitals in Denmark. All patients receive usual care and patients allocated to the experimental intervention group follow a 12-week sexual rehabilitation programme consisting of an individualised exercise programme and psychoeducative consultation with a specially trained nurse. The primary outcome is sexual function measured by the International Index of Erectile Function. The secondary outcome measure is psychosocial adjustment to illness by the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, sexual domain. A number of explorative analyses will also be conducted. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: CopenHeartSF is approved by the regional ethics committee (no H-4-2012-168) and the Danish Data Protection Agency (no 2007-58-0015) and is performed in accordance with good clinical practice and the Declaration of Helsinki in its latest form. REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01796353.