An update on the Boston Marathon as a research laboratory

Abstract

Purpose/methods. The Boston Athletic Association’s annual marathon, also referred to as BAA in this article, continues to be a source of subjects for exercise and endurance performance research. We performed a systematic literature review of BAA studies published in the 7 years since our prior report. Results. We identified 20 articles published from January 2008 to February 2015. Nine were related to cardiology; six were related to exercise physiology; four were related to metabolism; and one was related to marathon qualifying times. As in our prior, report cardiovascular studies remained the dominant topic, but with risk factors for atherosclerosis and thrombosis as the present focus. Conclusion. Cardiac issues remain the largest subject area for BAA studies, but with more emphasis on the effect of prolonged exercise on atherosclerotic and thrombotic risk factors. This shift is associated with an increase in marathon participation by older, recreational runners at increased risk of cardiac complications due to exercise.

Keywords:

• Cardiovascular risk
• Boston Athletic Association
• endurance exercise
• atherosclerotic complications
• vascular complications

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Brittany Brochetti for her assistance in identifying articles.

Declaration of interest

PD Thompson reports receiving research grants from the National Institutes of Health (grant number NIH R44 GM085201-04), GlaxoSmithKline (protocol number LPL100601), Anthera (protocol number AN-CVD2233), B Braun, Genomas (grant number NIH R44 GM085201-04), Roche (protocol number NC20971), Aventis, Novartis (protocol number CPJMR0032103), and Furiex (protocol number PPD10558-010); serving as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Furiex, Regeneron, Merck, Roche, Genomas, Abbott, Lupin, Runners World, Genzyme, Sanofi, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline; receiving speaker honoraria from Merck, Pfizer, Abbott, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and Kowa; owning stock in General Electric, JA Wiley Publishing, J&J, Sanofi-Aventis, and Abbott; and serving as a medical legal consultant on cardiac complications of exercise, statin myopathy, tobacco, ezetimibe, and nonsteroidals. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.