Train stations are heart attack risk

PEOPLE in Paris are more likely to have heart attacks in train stations than anywhere else, a study has found.

Researchers looked at heart attacks that happened in public places in the capital from 2000 to 2010 and found some areas were “dramatically associated with a higher risk” – the main train stations of Montparnasse, Saint-Lazare, Bercy, Austerlitz, Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est.

Out of the 1,255 heart attacks that were in public (from a total 4,176), they were “highly clustered” around the major stations, the study showed.

On the other hand major tourist sites had far fewer even though they also attract large numbers of people. Overall, 20% of heart attacks were concentrated in 1% of the city’s surface area.

While they have not studied the reasons for the effect, the researchers think it might be due to people feeling more stressed in stations – and they conclude that they need to be equipped with more defibrillators.

The study was by the Centre d’Expertise Mort Subite (Sudden Death Expertise Centre) at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, which is attached to national medical research body Inserm.