Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.

During the last decade, an increasing popularity of marathons has been seen. Although running has been shown to have considerable positive health effects, the risk of sudden death, most often due to sudden cardiac arrests, is also a risk runners expose themselves to. Whilst there are some studies on...

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Main Authors: Finn Nilson, Mats Börjesson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5891071?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-22b1bb0ac9bd44b8a0e99072d6c74dfb2020-11-25T00:13:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032018-01-01134e019562610.1371/journal.pone.0195626Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.Finn NilsonMats BörjessonDuring the last decade, an increasing popularity of marathons has been seen. Although running has been shown to have considerable positive health effects, the risk of sudden death, most often due to sudden cardiac arrests, is also a risk runners expose themselves to. Whilst there are some studies on the mortality amongst long-distance runners, much of the evidence is dated. Given the increased popularity in running during the 21st century as well as the improvements in medical care at marathons, more knowledge is required on the mortality risk.Publicly available racing and news databases were used to identify the number of entrants and finishers in half to full marathons in Sweden between 2007 and 2016 and the number of deaths that occurred in conjunction with the races.A total of 1,156,271 runners entered a long distance (21-42km) running race in Sweden between 2007 and 2016, and 834,412 runners finished the races (72.2%). A large majority of the finishers (677,050 (81%)) competed in distances under a full marathon. Two deaths occurred during the time period, meaning that the death rate was 0.24 (95% confidence interval 0.04-0.79) per 100,000 finishers.This study can show that death rates in long distance running races between 2007 and 2016 in Sweden are very low, compared to previous studies. When added to the existing literature, the combined picture suggests a general downward trend in the risk of death during marathons since the 1980s.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5891071?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Finn Nilson
Mats Börjesson
spellingShingle Finn Nilson
Mats Börjesson
Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Finn Nilson
Mats Börjesson
author_sort Finn Nilson
title Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
title_short Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
title_full Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
title_fullStr Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
title_full_unstemmed Mortality in long-distance running races in Sweden - 2007-2016.
title_sort mortality in long-distance running races in sweden - 2007-2016.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2018-01-01
description During the last decade, an increasing popularity of marathons has been seen. Although running has been shown to have considerable positive health effects, the risk of sudden death, most often due to sudden cardiac arrests, is also a risk runners expose themselves to. Whilst there are some studies on the mortality amongst long-distance runners, much of the evidence is dated. Given the increased popularity in running during the 21st century as well as the improvements in medical care at marathons, more knowledge is required on the mortality risk.Publicly available racing and news databases were used to identify the number of entrants and finishers in half to full marathons in Sweden between 2007 and 2016 and the number of deaths that occurred in conjunction with the races.A total of 1,156,271 runners entered a long distance (21-42km) running race in Sweden between 2007 and 2016, and 834,412 runners finished the races (72.2%). A large majority of the finishers (677,050 (81%)) competed in distances under a full marathon. Two deaths occurred during the time period, meaning that the death rate was 0.24 (95% confidence interval 0.04-0.79) per 100,000 finishers.This study can show that death rates in long distance running races between 2007 and 2016 in Sweden are very low, compared to previous studies. When added to the existing literature, the combined picture suggests a general downward trend in the risk of death during marathons since the 1980s.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5891071?pdf=render
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