Take note, Steelers and Packers fans: a new study suggests that watching your home team lose the Super Bowl could be stressful enough to trigger a heart attack.
The new research shows that cardiac deaths can jump by 15 per cent in the hometown of the losing team in the days after the big game. But when the home team wins, heart-related deaths fall.
The researchers involved in the study, led by Dr. Robert Kloner of Good Samaritan Hospital and the University of Southern California, have studied this phenomenon before.
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Previous studies have noted before that sports fans with weak hearts may be at an increased risk of a heart attack while watching important matches.
In 2008, German researchers tracking cardiac emergencies during the 2006 World Cup of Soccer reported that on the days when Germany played, the rate of heart attacks, angina attacks or cardiac arrhythmias was 2.66 higher than the norm.
Physicians noted after that study that actually watching the big game may be just one factor contributing to the stress placed on the hearts of sports fans. The parties that typically surround the event usually involve alcohol, which could also stress the heart, they noted.