Runners' Heart Risks Seen as Overblown

[Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2012] Long-distance runners can breathe a little easier.

Scattered reports of heart-related deaths during marathons and half marathons over the past few years have prompted questions about the safety of the events. But a study of participants over more than a decade found only a tiny risk of cardiac arrest during or immediately after a race, a 1 in 184,000 chance.

"The study helps us understand what the risk is with cardiac arrest in the marathon, and we find it's not very high at all," said Kevin Harris, a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute who wasn't involved in the research. Read more at wsj.com.