A new study has revealed that patients turned less sexually active after suffering a heart attack, particularly if they don't get instructions from physicians regarding when it is safe to restart sex.

During the research of 1,184 men and 576 women heart attack sufferers, around half the males and about a third of females reported receiving discharge instructions on restarting their sex lives.

The study reported that less than 40% of men and less than 20% of females discussed sex with their doctors in the year following their heart failure.

Twelve months after heart failure, over two thirds of the males reported some sexual activity, and so did about 40% of the females.

Males were 1.3 times and females 1.4 times more likely to report a loss of sexual activity after one year if they didn't receive information on when to resume sex.

Stacy Tessler Lindau, who led the study and associate professor of obstetrics/gynaecology and medicine-geriatrics, University of Chicago stated, "Sexuality is an important part of life throughout life, and most heart attack patients are sexually active."

"For the most part, physicians just aren't discussing this topic with their patients after a heart attack," Stacy added.

The study results were presented at the American Heart Association's 11th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke. (With Inputs from Agencies)