On April 17th, Boston will host its 121st annual marathon. The Boston Marathon is the oldest long-distance road race in the United States and one of the largest marathons in the country. It is expected to attract approximately 30,000 runners and an estimated 500,000 spectators to line the marathon route and cheer them along.
When Roads Are Closed for Marathons, More Elderly People Die of Heart Attacks
Can infrastructure disruptions from large public events have unintended health consequences for people not participating? The authors investigated what happens to Medicare patients who suffer an acute cardiac emergency – either a heart attack or cardiac arrest – during a major marathon and are hospitalized in an area affected by the race route. They found that Medicare patients who were hospitalized for an acute cardiac emergency on the day of a marathon had substantially higher 30-day mortality (28.2%), compared to patients admitted during the weeks before and after the race (24.9%) and to patients admitted on the day of the race, but in zip codes just outside of the marathon route (24.8%). Their findings imply that, for every 100 patients who have a heart attack or cardiac arrest, an additional three people would die within one month if the cardiac event happened on the day of a marathon. This has important implications for organizers of all large public events, not just marathons.