Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => That CAN'T be true! => Topic started by: chris on 16/04/2003 11:55:09
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When the national football team wins, the number of fatal heart attacks goes down !
A win for the national football team means fewer deaths from a heart attack, according to a study published in the journal HEART.
The findings are based on French statistics on deaths from all causes for June and July in 1997 and 1998, with particular emphasis on the day of the World Cup and the preceding and following five days.
The football World Cup final was held on July 12 1998. France beat Brazil to win the title, watched by more than 26 million TV viewers, or 40% of the French population. It was the biggest sporting event ever held in France.
Analysis of the data showed that deaths from all causes remained constant for the five days up to and including the final, and the five days afterwards, for both men and women. But this was not the case for the number of heart attack deaths.
In men, the difference was significant. Heart attack deaths averaged 33 in the five days preceding and following the final, but numbered 23 on the day of the final itself. There was a similar trend for women of 28 deaths before and after the final and 18 on the day of the day itself.
Interestingly, on Bastille day (July 14), a national holiday in France, heart attack deaths also plummeted to 23 for men, but peaked for women, totalling 37.
A review of comparable figures for 1997 showed no such obvious differences in the numbers of deaths from heart attacks for July 12 and 14.
The authors suggest that less activity and/or the euphoria of a national win might have decreased stress levels among men on final day, while continued euphoria combined with a day off work might have made a difference to men on July 14.
They point to other research reporting fewer emergency medicine requirements in England during the hosting of the 1996 European Football Championships, and fewer emergency psychiatric admissions in Scotland during World Cup final competitions.
An accompanying editorial highlights other research showing a 25% increase in admission to hospital for a heart attack when England lost to Argentina in the World Cup in 1998 following a penalty shoot-out.
Rerences :
Lower myocardial infarction mortality in French men the day France won the 1998 World Cup of football 2003; 89: 555-6 [Editorial: Stress and myocardial infarction 2003; 89: 475-6]