Triathlon safety: What you need to know

Dr. Larry Creswell recently wrote a blog post summarizing the excellent research work that he and his colleagues have conducted to better understand the causes and conditions of death during triathlon events.

They have identified all triathlon fatalities that occurred during a 31-year period (1985-2016) and analyzed as many of the relevant factors as possible.  Their work was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

They observed the following:

  • Average age was 47 with a wide range, but the risk of death increases dramatically with age.
  • Most victims were male (85%).  This is also the case among marathon fatalities, as we saw previously.
  • About 40% of victims were fist time participants, and none of them were elite triathletes.
  • Almost 75% of fatalities occurred during the swim event, frequently within the first few minutes.  No specific swimming condition (e.g., water temperature) could be identified.
  • Many of the biking segment deaths were traumatic in nature.

In many cases of non-traumatic death, preexisting heart or vascular disease was discovered at autopsy.  The article notes that:

A surprising and important observation of this investigation, on the basis of autopsy reports, was the high frequency of clinically silent cardiac abnormalities (present in about 50% of the cases with an autopsy report available) that may have caused or contributed to sudden cardiac death.”

Dr. Creswell recommends that athletes should consider their heart health before participating.  Middle-aged men in particular should consider undergoing cardiovascular screening ahead of the event.  Read his excellent blog here.

-Dr. Accad

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Cardiac arrest in marathons and triathlons

Your Heart Health in a Heartbeat – Episode 6

LINKS:

Cardiac arrest during marathons: 10 facts to consider.

Study of triathlon deaths concludes more screening is needed.

Interesting research studies from the American College of Cardiology 2016 meeting.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello everyone,

There has been bad news coming from the marathon and triathlon communities regarding cardiac deaths during these events.  At the London marathon, a middle aged man suffered a cardiac arrest, and in Canada, a few days ago, a middle-aged woman also had a cardiac arrest and died during the swim portion of a triathlon.

So I thought I would take a few minutes today to go over what we know about cardiac arrest at these endurance events, and then go over some new recommendations for screening that were proposed at a recent meeting of the American College of Cardiology.Read more

Cardiomyopathy

 

Please note: this article is for general information only and should not be taken as specific medical advice. Should you have any symptoms or concerns, please seek medical attention or contact us for further evaluation. If you feel you are having a medical emergency, contact 9-1-1 immediately.

Cardiomyopathies are very common causes of exercise-related cardiac arrest in youth and young adults, but can occur to anyone at any age.  An unfortunate example is the case of a 45-year-old seasoned runner who collapsed during a marathon last November in Tennessee.  The autopsy revealed an unsuspected cardiomyopathy.Read more

Cardiac arrest during marathons: 10 facts to consider

Last Sunday, an experienced marathon runner in his mid-50’s collapsed a few yards from the finish line during the Road2Hope half-marathon in Hamilton, Ontario.  Regrettably, the paramedics were unable to resuscitate him.  This unfortunate story illustrates the rare but tragic phenomenon of exercise-induced sudden cardiac arrest.Read more