Around 21 people die each year of natural causes while practicing a hobby or a sport in Quebec, according to a study recently published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology Open, and three sports stand out from the rest, here are them.
The three leisure activities and sports associated with the greatest number of deaths by natural death in the province are: Cycling, hockey and hunting.
The authors of the study made this observation after compiling data on deaths, from all causes, occurring in Quebec while practicing a leisure activity or sport between January 2006 and December 2019.
This data comes from reports from the Quebec coroner’s office, autopsy reports and police reports. In total, researchers counted 2,234 deaths, of which 297 were attributable to a natural cause.
“In 95% of cases of natural death, the cause of death is a heart problem. Cerebral hemorrhage comes in 2nd place, far behind, with 3% of cases,” said one of the authors of the study, Paul Poirier, cardiologist at the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec (IUCPQ). , professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Laval University and researcher at the IUCPQ Research Center.
Cycling, hockey and hunting are respectively associated with 61, 26 and 24 deaths by natural death during the period studied.
“We were surprised to see hunting at the top of the list,” said Mr. Poirier.
The latter specifies, however, that if we consider the profile of hunters, who are often men of a certain age with a higher than average coronary risk, “the influx of adrenaline associated with hunting and the efforts that must be made hunters to transport a 450 kilo moose, we can understand why this activity is associated with a higher risk of death from natural death than other sports and leisure activities.
Activities that cannot be excluded
The cardiologist also emphasizes that these three activities should not be avoided.
“Many more people die of cardiac arrest while they are sleeping, sitting in a chair or raking. A sedentary lifestyle does much more damage than leisure and sports,” he recalled.
According to the study, “the use of cardiac defibrillators and better screening for coronary problems would make it possible to prevent a large part of these deaths”.
Indeed, in 65% of the cases recorded by researchers, there was no cardiac defibrillator nearby.
“Rapid use of a cardiac defibrillator triples the prognosis for survival without neurological sequelae. There has been progress in the deployment of these devices in Quebec over the past decade, but there is still work to be done,” said Mr. Poirier.
