Sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease: the Caerphilly study

Objective: To examine the relation between frequency of sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease. Design: Cohort study with 20 year follow up. Setting: The town of Caerphilly, South Wales and five adjacent villages. Subjects: 914 men aged 45–59 years at time of recruitment in 1979 to 1983. Main outcome measures: Ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease, all first events and fatal events. Results: Of the 914 men studied, 197 (21.5%) reported sexual intercourse less often than once a month, 231 (25.3%) reported sexual intercourse twice or more a week, and the remaining 486 (53.2%) men fell into the intermediate category. Frequency of sexual intercourse was not associated with all first ischaemic stroke events: age adjusted odds ratios (95 % CI) for intermediate and low fre-quency of sexual intercourse of 0.61 (0.32 to 1.16) and 0.71 (0.34 to 1.49) respectively compared with the reference category of high frequency. A graded relation with fatal coronary heart disease events was observed in events recorded up to 10 years. The age adjusted relative risk (95 % CI) of fatal coronary heart disease contrasting low frequency of sexual intercourse (that is, less than monthly) wit