Study: Majority of Prague Marathon participants suffered heart damage

Some 70 percent of the people who took part in last year’s Prague Marathon suffered heart damage while one-quarter sustained damage to their livers, suggests a study by Prague’s Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine published on Tuesday. Most of those problems were temporary, the study’s authors said.

The doctors said that amateur runners are frequently unprepared for the marathon and could therefore seriously damage their health. Frequent problems include dehydration, some runners collapse after they reach the finish line and dangerous overheating can occur, they added.

Author: Ian Willoughby