It’s not just football players and their managers who feel the pressure on big match days; fans are affected too, with potentially serious consequences for their health, according to a new study.

A UK research team from Birmingham University examined hospital admissions for a range of diagnoses on days surrounding England’s 1998 World Cup football matches. They were particularly concerned with admissions for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, deliberate self-harm and road traffic injuries on the days of England’s World Cup matches and for five days afterwards. These statistics were then compared with admissions at the same time in previous and subsequent years, and in the month preceding the tournament.

They found that the risk of admission for acute myocardial infarction increased by 25% on June 30 1998 (the day England lost to Argentina in a penalty shoot-out and David Beckham was sent off) and on the following two days.

There were no excess admissions for other diagnoses on those days or the days of the other England matches. And the researchers concluded that heart attacks can be triggered by emotional upset, as experienced by fans watching their football team lose an important match.

BMJ 2002 Dec 21; 325(7378):1439-42

John Shepherd