Sex can be heart-attack trigger for couch potatoes

CHICAGO (AP) — Sex and exercise can trigger heart attacks in older people who don't get much of either, a new analysis finds.

The risk is low, but it's a good reminder that slackers should change their exercise habits gradually, especially in middle age.

People who exercise regularly have a much smaller risk of having a heart attack immediately after sexual or physical activity, said lead author Dr. Issa Dahabreh of Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

"It would be really bad if someone thought our paper means people should not exercise," Dahabreh said. "If anything, it's the opposite."

The analysis, appearing in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, combined results from 14 studies involving more than 6,000 patients.

The studies involved only people who'd had heart attacks or had died suddenly from a heart problem.