Not even a medical emergency can pull some men away from a television showing their favorite sports teams, a U.S. study has determined.
University of Maryland emergency physician David Jerrard tracked nearly 800 regular season college and professional football, baseball and basketball games in the state over three years and found there always was an increase in the number of men who checked into emergency rooms after these events.
Jerrard's study, to be presented on Sunday at the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians Research Forum in New Orleans, showed about 50 percent more men registered in emergency rooms after a football game than during the event itself.
Thirty to 40 percent more men sought care following a baseball game.
"Hold on, honey. This chest pain can wait until the game is over."
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Of course, in many cases the discomfort is pretty diffuse. And there's several studies that show that we tend to attribute both the cause and nature of felt sensations to our situation (which is why taking a date to a scary movie is such an enduring classic), so it's not at all inconceivable that many of those men are attributing chest pain and shortness of breath to stomach ache and excitement from nervousness, too much chips and an important, exciting game. Only after the game do they realize the true nature of the feeling.