Abstract
Adults have been increasingly motivated to compete in recreational endurance sports events. Amateurs may lack a complete understanding of recommended strategies for handling heat and humidity, making heat-related illnesses increasingly possible. This is compounded by global climate change and increasing average surface and air temperatures, especially in urban areas of industrialized nations in Europe and North America that have hosted most events to date. We conducted an on-line, secure survey at the 2nd Annual ING Georgia Marathon and Half-Marathon in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2008. We included previously validated questions on participant socio-demographics, training locations, and knowledge and awareness of heat-related illnesses. Participants were aware of heat illnesses, and of heat stroke as a serious form of heat stress. However, the majority, across age and gender, did not understand the potential severity of heat stroke. Furthermore, 1-in-5 participants did not understand the concept of heat stress as a form of heat-related illness, and how heat stress may result from buildup of muscle-generated heat in the body. Adult recreational endurance athletes are another susceptible, vulnerable population sub-group for applied research and public health educational interventions, especially in urban areas of industrialized nations in Europe and North America.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Georgia State University (GSU) Research Foundation, Atlanta, for our interdisciplinary team research funding for 2007-2008, and the GSU Partnership for Urban Health Research for supporting D. Shendell’s PsychData license for 7/2006-5/2008. We also acknowledge the efforts of dozens of undergraduate respiratory therapy and physical therapy students, and master’s students in nutrition, who volunteered time to help set up the various events and/or who assisted in data collection and entry at the events or on campus. We thank our three anonymous graduate students who served as internal reviewers and/or for assisting in the assimilation and review of metropolitan Atlanta temperature and air quality data for November 2006 to March 2007. We are grateful to staff of Active.com for timely collaboration with D. Shendell. Finally, we acknowledge the in-kind support received from the College of Health and Human Sciences, GSU, and Georgia Marathon, LLC.
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The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
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Shendell, D.G., Alexander, M.S., Lorentzson, L. et al. Knowledge and awareness of heat-related morbidity among adult recreational endurance athletes. Int J Biometeorol 54, 441–448 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-009-0295-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-009-0295-3