Do Marathons Delay Medical Care?

Marathons can be risky for hearts, but not necessarily those of the runners. It takes longer for nearby residents to get to a hospital for emergency heart care on the day of a race and they're less likely to survive, a U.S. study finds. Any event that draws a crowd and causes traffic detours — parades, ball games, concerts, fairs — may cause similar problems, researchers warn. It's more than inconvenience: For every 100 people suffering a heart attack or cardiac arrest, three to four more died within a month if they had sought care on a marathon day versus another time, the study found. It was published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, just before Boston's annual 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) race, set for Monday. Related JEMS Article: Beach2Battleship Triathlon Highlights Importance of Preparedness for Medical Response Team (Dec. 2015) The publication timing was by chance, but "hopefully it will raise some attention around the issue," said the study leader, Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical School. The study included marathons in Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington between 2002 and 2012. It did not include 2013, when bombs at the Boston Marathon might have caused unusual delays. Jena conceived the study after his wife entered a race last year and he couldn't get through traffic to watch her run. "She made the offhand remark, 'Gee, I wonder what happens ...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Cardiac & Resuscitation News Source Type: news