More Marathoners Surviving Heart Attacks

While more people than ever are running marathons in the US, the risk of dying from a heart attack during a race has fallen dramatically in recent years, according to a new study by Jonathan Kim, associate professor in Emory School of Medicine.

The new findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicate that while the rate of marathon runners who suffer cardiac arrests remained unchanged, their chance of survival is twice what it was in the past. More than 29 million people completed marathons in the US between 2010 and 2023.

Cardiac arrests remain far more common among men than women, and more common in marathons than half marathons.

What led to the dramatic change in death rates? After interviewing survivors, Kim believes the sport has become more aware of the risks and of the need to have emergency services available. “What we found was that every one of those people got hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the vast majority also had immediate access to an automated external defibrillator. That’s the difference,” he says.

The survival rate is comparable to the rate in other public places that make defibrillators available, such as airports and casinos.

 

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