Cheering for your favorite baseball team: Is it hazardous to your health?

A study, led by cardiologist, Dr. Franklin Zimmerman of Columbia University, will use an ambulatory blood pressure monitor (ABPM) to determine whether cheering for your favorite baseball team is hazardous to your health.

As the New York Yankees continue their playoff series with the Los Angeles Angels for the American League Championship and for the right to advance to the World Series, a group of baseball fans are having their blood pressure monitored while they root for their beloved Yankees. But is there more at risk here than just the outcome of the games?

“Each year there is an increase in cardiovascular complications associated with sporting events,” says Dr. Franklin Zimmerman, Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University and Director of Critical Care at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, NY, “This has been well described in soccer fans, but there is no study to my knowledge that has analyzed this phenomenon with baseball fans.”

The study will monitor blood pressure and heart rate of New York Yankees fans with either known cardiovascular disease, or with cardiac risk factors, by having them wear an Oscar 2 ambulatory blood pressure monitor on playoff game days. Researchers hope the data will indicate whether cheering during the baseball playoffs can have an adverse effect on cardiovascular health and what measures might be taken to alleviate it.

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