Study shows higher cardiac death rate in women after Super Bowl

    This strange study out of Los Angeles will get you thinking. And maybe cheering on your team a little less. WHYY Health & Science reporter Meggan Kole unearthed this study from the Clinical Cardiology journal.

    Data from the 1980 Super Bowl game between the LA Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers show cardiac death rates for women increased (more than in men and seniors) after the Rams lost the game.

    The study does not include any other team or game, or apparently take into account the amount of artery-clogging food consumed during the Bowl. But it does have us wondering.

    The Heart Institute of Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles compared the numbers to those following the LA Raiders’ Super Bowl win in 1984, when the death rate in seniors went up a bit.

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    Turns out factors like your connection to a team, where the game was played and, in the case of the uptick in women’s deaths, your empathy for a partner who just watched his team lose, can be triggers for a heart attack.

    Note to fans in Pittsburgh and Green Bay: keep your cool this weekend.

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