According to a new study, the Super Bowl may cause heart attacks. Or at least, the rate of heart attacks in America rises around the Super Bowl. Hear that, Packers fans? CNN has the report:
The 2011 Super Bowl May Give You A Heart Attack (Or It May Not)
In the study, which was published Monday in the journal Clinical Cardiology, researchers analyzed death records in Los Angeles County for the two weeks after the 1980 and 1984 Super Bowls, both of which featured teams from Los Angeles. (The game days were included.) Then, as a control, the researchers looked at the same data from the corresponding days in the intervening years.
In 1980, when the Pittsburgh Steelers staged a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the underdog L.A. Rams, heart-related deaths shot up 15% among men and 27% among women in the subsequent two weeks, compared with the same period in 1981 through 1983.
WOW. So we’re all more likely to have a heart attack on Sunday? Eh, maybe not.
As great as this news is for dinner party conversation, chances are, it’s completely bogus. As Deadspin points out this afternoon, most of these “trends” are completely made-up. Like the oft-repeated statistic that claims domestic abuse spikes on Super Bowl Sunday:
If you repeat a fun fact enough, people start to believe it, even if it’s more fun and less fact. We’re all aware of the fact that domestic violence numbers shoot up during and after the Super Bowl; it’s almost common knowledge at this point. Men get upset over the outcome of the game and take it out on their significant others. Problem is, it’s been “common knowledge” for 18 years, even though it was thoroughly debunked just days after the hoax first started.
This was a big deal back in 1993, to the point where CBS and the AP labeled it a “Day of Dread” for women. A press conference was held before the game to warn women to remove themselves from dangerous situations. Activists prevailed upon NBC to air a public service announcement during the game. Of course, this was false. Ken Ringle of the Washington Post used his column in January of that year to look at, you know, actual statistics. They don’t back up any of the claims, and indeed academics quoted in the original hoax said their statements were taken out of context or just made up completely.
See? It’s not true. There’s no “Day of Dread” for the housewives of America, and it’s just as crazy to think that two Super Bowls from the 1980s proves that heart attacks are more likely this weekend. But still. If you happen to be at a dinner party this week... And maybe that’s all that matters. ALL OF THESE PEOPLE COULD DIE OF A HEART ATTACK. Pretty great conversation starter, no?
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