National Runner's Health Study: Part VII

Is There a Dark Side?

One of my favorite movies when I was young was the original Star Wars. A part of that movie that has stayed with me over the years is the eerie scene involving the heavy and raspy breathing of Darth Vader, who represented the dark side.

Running provides many physical and mental health benefits, but is there a dark side to running? Some believe that there is. Occasionally a tragedy occurs in the sport of running. Runners that appear to be fit and healthy collapse and die during their race or training run. During the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon two men died after suffering a heart attack.  One runner suffered a heart attack 3 miles into the race while the other collapsed at mile 21. A third runner had a heart attack at the start of the race but survived.

Sudden death is not a common occurrence in running, even during a race as grueling and strenuous as the marathon. It is even rarer to see multiple deaths, such as the unfortunate events during the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon, but sudden deaths do occur. Studies vary in data concerning the number of sudden deaths among runners. One report said that about 7 of every 100,000 runners will die suddenly. Another recent study determined that sudden death associated with moderate to vigorous exercise was very low at 1 per 36.5 million hours of exercise.   In 2005, researchers conducted a study of 215,413 runners that competed in the Marine Corps and Twin Cities Marathons over a 30 year period .  The researchers found that only 4 sudden deaths occurred due to unsuspected heart disease. That is a very low .002% which is much lower than risks of sudden death among non-runners. Regardless of which numbers you choose to believe, the incidence of sudden death among runners is rare.

Sudden death during exercise is a relatively rare occurrence, but unfortunately it does happen. If running and exercise improves your health and extends your life, why do these tragedies happen? Does running increase the chances of sudden death? As with most complex questions, the answer is partly yes and partly no.