Study says penalty shootouts can damage your health

LONDON -- Researchers have found a reason to kick penalty shootouts out of soccer.

They lead to heart attacks.

According to an article in the British Medical Journal, the number of heart attacks in the country increased by 25 percent when England lost to Argentina in a penalty shootout at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Researchers took data from hospital admissions before, during and after the game at the World Cup and also the same periods of the year in 1997 and '99. The data included admissions for heart attacks, strokes, road accident injuries and attempted suicides.

"The periods after a win and the first loss were not associated with any increased number of admissions for any of the causes examined," the report said.

"However, on the day of and the two days after the match against Argentina with a penalty shootout, admissions for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) increased by 25 percent. No increases in admission were seen for any of the other diagnoses."

The researchers believe that many of those watching the game on television couldn't take the tension. About 24 million people watched the match in the United Kingdom, making it the most watched television program in the country in 1998.

Although the data is restricted mainly to that game, the researchers believe it is safer to find another way to decide who wins.

"Aside from the issues of sporting fairness," the report says, "perhaps the lottery of the penalty shootout should be abandoned on public health grounds," the report said.