Marathon is a long-distance running race. It is one
of the endurance events which have some health benefits. However, the incidences
of sudden cardiac deaths that have occurred during marathons imply an element of
risk as well. In this paper, the authors aimed to assess the
prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular risk factors among
marathon runners during Beirut-Marathon 2014.
A total of 325 marathon runners were
divided into 42 km (30 runners) and 10 km groups (295 runners). They were
assessed for cardiovascular risk factors by measuring their BP and answering a
questionnaire. The questionnaire composed of 22 questions related to
demographic information, risk factors, medical history, family history, medical
checkups, use of antihypertensive drugs and definition of hyponatremia.
The results demonstrated that 1) the
majority of 42 km runners were males 29 (96.7%) vs. 205 (69.5%) in the 10 km
group, (P = 0.001); 2) The age of the runners in 42 km group was older than that
in 10 km group (47 ± 13.8 years old vs. 38.5 ± 14.6 years old; P = 0.0025); 3) The
prevalence of hypertension was 46.7% in the 42 km group as compared to 31.2% in
the 10 km group (P = 0.08); 4) Systolic BP (SBP) was higher in 42 km group vs.
10 km group (143 ± 22.4 mm Hg vs. 129.9 ± 17.8 mm Hg; P = 0.0004); 5) The heart
rate was lower among 42 km vs. 10 km group (71 ± 11.1 bpm vs. 84 ± 16 bpm; P
< 0.0001); 6) Only 10% of the runners in both groups reported that they had
hypertension (HTN).
In summary, there is a high prevalence of
HTN among marathon runners but minorities were aware that they had
hypertension. The 42 km runners tend to be older with higher systolic blood
pressure as compared to the 10 km runners.
Article
by Souzan Tatari, et al, from Lebanon.
Full
access: http://mrw.so/2jGBNB
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