triathlons pose twice the deadly risk of marathons: the journalism of fear

thanks to laura for posting about the u.s.a today story "triathlons pose a greater health risk than marathons. that story itself reported the results of a research study, "triathlons can pose deadly heart risks," led by dr. kevin harris, a cardiologist at the minneapolis heart institute at abbott northwestern hospital and presented last saturday at the american college of cardiology conference in florida. right off the bat, the title of the study is misleading: it focused on sudden deaths, not just heart attacks, that occurred during triathlons.

ignoring that small detail in the title, i we simply took all the deaths reported, 14, that occurred during the triathlons in the 2 year study, relative to the number of finishers, 922,810, we get a sudden death mortality percentage of .0015 (yes, that's two zeros after the decimal point)! even more astonishing, this statistic is touted as 1.5 time greater that the risk of just running a marathon!

i found it remarkable - but at all unusual - that the headline didn't read: "participants have a 99.9985% chance of survival competing in a triathlon!" but that, of course, wouldn't deter anyone from training for and competing in a triathlon.

honestly, do we really need these "studies" - especially if the results are hyped for all the wrong reasons? for a devastating critique of the reporting (and a detailed breakdown of the statistics), check out the great post, "Yahoo! and heart institute inflate risk of death among triathletes."

death at nautica nyc triathlon

while up in vermont this weekend i didn't keep up with any local news. the weather was very hot and humid there, but imagine my surprise waking up this morning to a cbs radio report of the death of a 32 year old man at the new york city triathlon yesterday! i was even more surprised, reading the ny times coverage on my commute to work, to learn his death occurred during the swim portion of the triathlon. since i didn't catch the complete story from the radio i had left the house laboring under the assumption that it was a heat-related running death!

the competitor, from buenos aires, argentina, was identified as estaban neiva. he was pulled, unconscious, from the hudson river - about three quarters of the way through the 1500 meter portion of the race (the first of the three legs). the intial reports cited cardiac arrest, but an autopsy will be performed today to determine the cause of death.

other news reports stated eight competitors were hospitalized with heat-related syptoms, many more treated on site. there were also numerous reports of jellyfish bites as the swimmers encountered a swarm of jellyfish - some the "size of salad plates" - in the water! some even wondered if the jellyfish bites may have contributed to the fatality!

update: the ny times reports the autopsy performed on monday was inconclusive and the cause of death is still not known. the nyc medical examiner said tissue and toxicity tests will take an additional 10 days to complete.

3+ months later... the autospy results were finally reported yesterday. the cause of death was from "a condition linked to high blood pressure."