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A recent study looked at the risk of sudden cardiac death during a marathon.
Many isolated reports of sudden death make headlines in the national news.
However, of nearly 11 million runners, only 59 went into cardiac arrest during a race. This equates to an incidence rate of 0.54 per 100,000 participants,
This rate appears to be on par with sudden death from other athletic endeavors such as triathlons and college athletics.
Median age was 42. Men affected more than women (men also more likely to die from the event).
71% of events were fatal.
Further, risk is greater for both cardiac arrest and sudden death for full marathons than half marathons.
Interestingly, older patients fared better (increased survival in those >40yo), thought to be due to an increased incidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in younger aged runners.
References
Baggish et al., New England Journal of Medicine.