Why sudden death occurs during sexual intercourse

I cannot confirm the authenticity of the story that made rounds in social media last week where a man was reported to have died while having sex. The incident reportedly happened in Kitengela during the day in the house of the woman.

The man was 59 years old while the sex mate was aged 23. The couple is reported to have had lunch together and then proceeded to have sex.

“He suddenly went quiet and became unresponsive in the course of the intercourse. The girl realised that he had also gone for a long call on the bed. She immediately asked for help from the man’s friend who came and helped her rush the man to the hospital.

He was however pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital,” so went a purported police report.

If this story is authentic, a serious breach of privacy and data protection happened. The names and phone numbers of the man and the woman were in the story, which is unethical and illegal. It is hard to understand how the police report could have leaked out.

Whatever the case, what followed was a tirade of calls and messages to me. Many men wanted to know what could have gone wrong and whether they are safe in their sexual escapades.

“I have been using the blue pill and I am wondering if it is the cause of the death. Do you think I should stop using it?” one caller asked.

“I am just imagining something like that happening in the house of my side dish. It would be a disaster although I will be gone and unavailable to face the shame,” another man said.

Sudden death associated with sexual intercourse can happen during the act or within 24 hours of the act. Most cases reported to the police happen in hotels, brothels, or in a house belonging to the sex partner of the victim which is not a usual place of residence of the deceased.

There is a possibility that such deaths are more common with non-regular sex partners because of the excessive stimulation and excitement that may occur in such sexual encounters.

However, death might occur even with regular marital partners, but police involvement and investigation may not happen due to low levels of suspicion of foul play.

While women can die during sex, such cases are rare. Commonly it is the man. It is also rare for a young man to die, as older men are at a higher risk. Incidentally, the blue pill is not the main cause of death in these cases.

One study that sheds light on causes of sudden death during sex was done in Germany over a 33-year period from 1972 to 2004. The study involved medico-legal postmortems performed in the Center of Legal Medicine at the University Hospital in Frankfurt.

There were 32,000 postmortems done out of which 68 were for sudden deaths during sexual intercourse.

Only five of the 68 cases were women. Their average age was 40 years. In the rest of the cases, the men had an average age of 59 years. The Kitengela case was similarly reported to be a 59.

A similar study done in Korea however found the dead men to be of a younger age at about 46 years on average. Overall, however, most studies report these deaths to be more common after the age of 50.

In all the studies, heart disease is found to be the most common cause of death during sex. While some victims were aware of the heart condition, a number did not and the diagnosis was only done after death.

Those aware of the heart problem may have suffered a heart attack previously, may have a gadget such as a pacemaker to help the heart function well, or maybe on medicines for heart disease at the point of death.

A number have hypertension. Some, especially the younger victims, may have a congenital heart disease.

The big question then is whether people with heart disease should not be having sex. The answer is that when the disease is detected and managed well, sex can continue with little risk.

The heart doctor normally offers counselling on the dos and don’ts to ensure safety during sex. For people who do not do annual medical checks, this is a clarion call for immediate action. You do not want your heart disease diagnosed at postmortem when you should have taken appropriate action to prevent sudden death.

Other than heart disease, some deaths during sex are attributed to bleeding in the brain. Most of the victims have aneurysms, which refer to weakened areas on the small blood vessels in the brain which rupture during sex.

Aneurisms are hard to predict and prevent. Finally, there are cases where the cause of death during sex is unknown.

So, to all those who called asking why the Kitengela death happened, let us wait for the post-mortem report.