I read in the New England Journal of Medicine about Cardiac Arrest (Heart Attack) During Marathons and here is the consensus.
{I modified the excerpt below to make it more reader friendly.}
Results
Of 10.9 million runners, 59 (average age 42 give or take 13 years) had a cardiac arrest (heart attack). The incidence rate of having a heart attack is 0.54 persons per 100,000 participants with 95% confidence interval of 0.41 to 0.70 {meaning 95% likelihood that the "true" value is somewhere in the 0.41-0.70 range}.Cardiovascular disease accounted for the majority of cardiac arrests. The incidence rate was significantly higher during marathons (1.01 per 100,000) than during half-marathons (0.27) and among men (0.90 per 100,000) than among women (0.16). Male marathon runners, the highest-risk group, had an increased incidence of cardiac arrest during the latter half of the study decade (2000–2004, 0.71 per 100,000; 2005–2010, 2.03 per 100,000).
Of the 59 cases of cardiac arrest, 42 (71%) were fatal (incidence, 0.39 per 100,000). Among the 31 cases with complete clinical data, initiation of bystander-administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (chest compressions) and an underlying diagnosis other than hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were the strongest predictors of survival.
Conclusions
Marathons and half-marathons are associated with a low overall risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death. Cardiac arrest, most commonly attributable to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart muscle = not good) or atherosclerotic coronary disease (lard in the vessels of your heart), occurs primarily among male marathon participants; the incidence rate in this group increased during the past decade.Moral to the story.... if you are going to run a marathon....you are most likely not going to have a heart attack unless you have had heart disease before and are a male and even then the likelihood is very slim. But if you do....you are most likely going to die from it.
Happy Running!
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