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Sex is rarely a trigger for a sudden cardiac arrest but when it happens, only a third of people who collapse during sex are likely to receive CPR from their partners, a new study finds.

Researchers who examined the records of more than 4,500 cases of sudden cardiac arrests found a total of 34 linked to sexual activity, 94 per cent of them involving men.

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However, their partners were alarmingly reluctant to attempt CPR. “This likely explains the relatively low survival rates despite mostly shockable initial cardiac arrest rhythms,” the researchers report in a study published Sunday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The finding surprised and puzzled the researchers.

“There is plenty of evidence that performing CPR by bystanders until the ambulance arrives translates to significantly better survival for cardiac arrest,” said first author Aapo Aro, of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. “By definition, a cardiac arrest occurring during sexual activity is witnessed by a partner, and if CPR would have been initiated by the partner this would have been likely to save the lives of some of these patients.”