Cardiomythology and Marathons

Abstract

Two questions about long-distance running are addressed in this issue of the Journal: If people who go in for protracted, strenuous exercise have healthier cardiovascular systems, is the exercise itself responsible or are other factors, such as a different constitutional endowment? Secondly, does the exercise involved in running marathons confer immunity to death from coronary-artery disease?Whether one compares railway switchmen with railway clerks, postal carriers with postal clerks, bus conductors with their companion drivers, college athletes with their more sedentary classmates or farmers and longshoremen with the rest of the community, the active member of each pair will have . . .