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Invited Commentary
October 2016

The Need to Improve Care and Research on Sexual Functioning in Cardiology

Author Affiliations
  • 1Duke Clinical Research Institute, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
JAMA Cardiol. 2016;1(7):765-766. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2016.2436

In this issue of JAMA Cardiology, Lindau et al1 present findings from the Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young AMI Patients (VIRGO) study describing the sexual activity and functioning of younger men and women in the United States and Spain up to 1 year following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Lindau et al’s work has provided a valuable service to the health care community in at least 4 respects. First, the data remind us that the domain of sexual functioning is an important part of patients’ lives. The investigators found that a large proportion of patients were sexually active prior to and following AMI. Furthermore, 1 year following an AMI, sex was rated as important to some degree for 73% of women and 92% of men, with sex being rated as “extremely” or “very” important for 24% of women and 45% of men.

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