Football fanatics could risk heart attacks
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A new study published this week in the journal Clinical Cardiology suggests sports spectators with heart disease may be better off avoiding watching big sports games like the Super Bowl.
The study led by Robert A. Kloner, M.D. from the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles showed local mortality rates were higher than usual on the day of, and following, the 1980 Super Bowl during which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated L.A. Rams.
According to Health.com, the report determined that for two weeks after the 1980 Super Bowl game, heart-related mortality increased by 15 percent among men and 27 percent among women compared to the mortality rates for the same period from 1981 through 1984. At higher risk were people who were 65 years old or older.
In contrast, watching your favorite team win a game can be a pleasant experience which can potentially reduce your risk of death from cardiovascular events. During the 1984 Super Bowls game in which the L.A. Raisers beat the Washington Redskins , the all cause death rates for women and older people were slightly lower than usual.
Earlier studies suggest the stress induced by certain spectator games may boost heart attack risk by increasing blood pressure.
In the July 2010 online Journal of Clinical Hypertension, Franklin H. Zimmerman, MD of Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY reported not all games pose the same risk to spectators.
Zimmerman et al. asked a group of 42 New York sports fans including 11 New York Giants and New York Jets fans to wear an ambulatory blood pressure monitor on the day of and throughout the 2009 baseball World Series and National Football League playoffs.
The monitor provided the researchers data on heart rate (HR), mean arterial BP (MAP), and the ‘‘double’’ product (DP) of the two measures.
The researchers found baseball game spectators experienced a highly significant decrease in MAPand DP during the game time compared with baseline while the heart rate did not change as significantly.
On the other hand, those who watched the football games showed an increase in MAP and DP during the game time, but the difference was not statistically significant.
The analyses considered factors including age, gender, history of hypertension, coronary disease, hyperlipidemia, tyoe 2 diabetes, using certain medications, fan type, and wagering.
David Liu and editing by Aimee Keenan-Greene
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