hensylee
Well-known member
Hey, Girls - the rest of the story - now we know - it's a heart thing:
Sports Victories Soothe Men's Hearts
Fewer Heart Attack Deaths Reported During World Cup Win
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Wednesday, April 16, 2003
> Email to a friend > Printer-friendly version
April 16, 2003 - Music may soothe the savage breast, but it takes a major victory to soothe the heart of the average sports fan. A new study shows the number of heart attacks among men in France dropped substantially on the day the French soccer team won the World Cup on their home turf in 1998.
Researchers say the effect of major sporting events on heart health is controversial. Some studies have shown that the emotional stress and alcohol and tobacco consumption associated with these events can act as a trigger for heart attacks and other heart-related deaths. But they say it is also possible that the collective euphoria and positive emotions attributed to a win could decrease the risk of death due to heart disease.
The World Cup final was held on July 12, 1998 and was watched by 26 million French fans or 40% of the French population. Researchers say it was the biggest sporting event ever held in France.
To see if this sporting event had any impact on deaths caused by heart attacks, researchers looked at the number of deaths from all causes for June and July in 1997 and 1998. Their findings appear in the May 2003 issue of Heart.
The study shows the number of deaths from all causes remained constant for the five days before and after the World Cup final among both men and women. But when researchers looked at the number of heart attack deaths, there was a significant difference.
An average of 33 heart-attack deaths were reported among men on each of the five days preceding and following the World Cup soccer final but only 23 heart-attack deaths were reported on the day of the final when France beat Brazil. A similar trend was found among women. Twenty-eight heart-attack deaths were reported before and after the final among women, but only 18 on the day itself.
In addition, the number of heart-attack deaths also dropped to 23 among men on Bastille Day (July 14), a national holiday in France. But the number of heart-attack deaths actually increases among women on July 14.
No such differences were found in the previous year on July 12 or 14.
Researchers say the combination of less physical activity and the euphoria of a national victory may have prompted the drop among men on the day of the World Cup final, and continued euphoria in combination with a day off from work may have led to the decline in heart-attack deaths among men on Bastille Day.
They note previous studies found that British emergency rooms were less busy when England hosted the 1996 European football championship and there were fewer emergency psychiatric admissions in Scotland during the World Cup finals.
In an editorial that accompanies the study, Robert Kloner, of the Heart Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, and colleagues say previous research has focused on negative emotions as a possible trigger for heart attack during major sporting events.
For example, a study found a 24% increase in hospital admissions for heart attacks when England lost to Argentina after a tense penalty shootout in the 1998 World Cup.
But they say the idea that positive feelings could reduce the risk of heart attack is an intriguing one that merits further research.
"Research in the field of triggering related to sporting events is intriguing and should continue, since fans may or may not be losing their lives after football [soccer] games, but football games are not losing any fans," they write.
Sports Victories Soothe Men's Hearts
Fewer Heart Attack Deaths Reported During World Cup Win
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Wednesday, April 16, 2003
> Email to a friend > Printer-friendly version
April 16, 2003 - Music may soothe the savage breast, but it takes a major victory to soothe the heart of the average sports fan. A new study shows the number of heart attacks among men in France dropped substantially on the day the French soccer team won the World Cup on their home turf in 1998.
Researchers say the effect of major sporting events on heart health is controversial. Some studies have shown that the emotional stress and alcohol and tobacco consumption associated with these events can act as a trigger for heart attacks and other heart-related deaths. But they say it is also possible that the collective euphoria and positive emotions attributed to a win could decrease the risk of death due to heart disease.
The World Cup final was held on July 12, 1998 and was watched by 26 million French fans or 40% of the French population. Researchers say it was the biggest sporting event ever held in France.
To see if this sporting event had any impact on deaths caused by heart attacks, researchers looked at the number of deaths from all causes for June and July in 1997 and 1998. Their findings appear in the May 2003 issue of Heart.
The study shows the number of deaths from all causes remained constant for the five days before and after the World Cup final among both men and women. But when researchers looked at the number of heart attack deaths, there was a significant difference.
An average of 33 heart-attack deaths were reported among men on each of the five days preceding and following the World Cup soccer final but only 23 heart-attack deaths were reported on the day of the final when France beat Brazil. A similar trend was found among women. Twenty-eight heart-attack deaths were reported before and after the final among women, but only 18 on the day itself.
In addition, the number of heart-attack deaths also dropped to 23 among men on Bastille Day (July 14), a national holiday in France. But the number of heart-attack deaths actually increases among women on July 14.
No such differences were found in the previous year on July 12 or 14.
Researchers say the combination of less physical activity and the euphoria of a national victory may have prompted the drop among men on the day of the World Cup final, and continued euphoria in combination with a day off from work may have led to the decline in heart-attack deaths among men on Bastille Day.
They note previous studies found that British emergency rooms were less busy when England hosted the 1996 European football championship and there were fewer emergency psychiatric admissions in Scotland during the World Cup finals.
In an editorial that accompanies the study, Robert Kloner, of the Heart Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, and colleagues say previous research has focused on negative emotions as a possible trigger for heart attack during major sporting events.
For example, a study found a 24% increase in hospital admissions for heart attacks when England lost to Argentina after a tense penalty shootout in the 1998 World Cup.
But they say the idea that positive feelings could reduce the risk of heart attack is an intriguing one that merits further research.
"Research in the field of triggering related to sporting events is intriguing and should continue, since fans may or may not be losing their lives after football [soccer] games, but football games are not losing any fans," they write.
