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Marathons can be risky for hearts, but not necessarily those of the runners. It takes longer for nearby residents to get to a hospital for emergency heart care on the day of a race and they’re less likely to survive, a U.S. study finds. Any event that draws a crowd and causes traffic detours — parades, ball games, concerts, fairs — may cause similar problems, researchers warn. (Marchione, 4/12)

The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found ambulances took 4.4 minutes longer, on average, to get elderly patients to the hospital before noon on marathon day during the 11 largest U.S. marathons, compared with travel times in the weeks before and after the races. Ambulances didn’t experience similar delays on the evenings of marathon days, when roads typically reopen. (Evans, 4/12)

“City planners and emergency medical personnel should be aware of the unintended consequences that these kinds of events have,” said Jena, an associate professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School. “Most of the preparations are around making sure participants at events have a good experience and are safe. . . . We probably never thought of what happens to people who actually need to get to the hospital.” (Freyer, 4/12)