Grand Sumo Tournaments and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests in Tokyo

Abstract

Background: Sumo wrestling is a demanding sport. Although watching sumo wrestling may have cardiovascular effects, no studies of this relationship have been performed. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the association between sumo wrestling tournaments and the rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.

Methods and results: We counted the daily number of patients aged 18 to 110 years who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of presumed-cardiac origin in the Tokyo metropolis between 2005 and 2014. A Poisson regression was used to model out-of-hospital cardiac arrests of presumed-cardiac origin per day. Exposure days were the days on which a sumo tournament was held and broadcast, whereas control days were all other days. Events that occurred on exposure days were compared with those that occurred on control days. Risk ratios for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests on Grand Sumo tournaments days compared with control days were estimated. In total, 71 882 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests met the inclusion criteria. We recorded a 9% increase in the occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests on the day of a sumo tournament compared with control days. In patients aged 75 to 110 years, we found a 13% increase in the occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests on the day of a sumo tournament compared with control days.

Conclusions: We found a significant increase in the occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests on the days of sumo tournaments compared with control days in the Tokyo metropolis between 2005 and 2014. Further studies are needed to verify these initial findings on sumo tournaments and cardiovascular events.

Keywords: Japan; cardiac arrest; sporting events; sudden cardiac arrest; sumo tournament.

Figure 1

Television sumo tournament program ratings were collected between 17:00 and 18:00 hours, when matches featuring high‐ranking sumo wrestlers were broadcast, in the Tokyo area from 2012 to 2014 by the days of the matches. White and shaded bars show the mean television sumo tournament program ratings when sumo tournaments were held in Tokyo and other cities (Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka), respectively. From match days 11 to 15, the ratings were higher when sumo tournaments were held in Tokyo rather than other cities. TV indicates television.