According to a new study, the Super Bowl could trigger fatal heart attacks-for the fans.
Researchers analyzed death records in Los Angeles County for the day of and two weeks after the 1980 and 1984 Super Bowls. Los Angeles teams played in both games. They then looked at records from the corresponding days in the years in between.
The study found that when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the L.A. Rams with a fourth-quarter comeback in 1980 heart-related deaths went up 15 percent among men and 27 percent among women during the same time period. The deaths were compared to the same days in 1981 through 1983. During the 1984 Super Bowl, the cardiac death rate did not increase. In this game the L.A. Raiders easily beat the Washington Redskins.
The results caused researchers to conclude that the stress of the game can generate a “fight-or-flight” response, which causes sharp increases in both heart rate and blood pressure. For those with heart disease, this can be fatal. They also said that the enormous amounts of fatty foods and alcohol consumed during the game can be a factor in triggering a heart attack.
The study was published Monday in the journal Clinical Cardiology. The results are subjective right now, as the researchers only looked at death certificate data, and don’t know how many of the individuals even watched the game.
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