Having a team in the popular Super Bowl may result in increase in the number of flu deaths among older adults, a population more vulnerable to serious complications from influenza, a new US study has claimed.
The effects are greater when the Super Bowl occurs close to the peak of flu season or when the dominant influenza strain is more lethal, researchers said.
Researchers looked at county-level statistics in US from 1974-2009. They found having a team in the Super Bowl resulted in an average 18 per cent increase in flu deaths among those over 65 years old.
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional football in the US.
Models show this year's flu season could be a mild one, but the virus will still kill thousands of people and sicken many more, the researchers said.
"It is people that are staying at home and hosting small local gatherings, so your Super Bowl party, that are actually passing influenza among themselves," said lead author Charles Stoecker, from Tulane University in US.
"Every year, we host these parties that we go to and it changes mixing patterns and you are coughing and sneezing and sharing chips and dip with people that you often do not and so we get the influenza transmitted in novel ways that is then going to eventually wind up in the lungs of a 65-year old," he said.
Researchers found no increase in flu deaths in cities hosting the Super Bowl. This is because the game has traditionally been held in warmer locales where the environment is less favourable for transmission, they said.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Health Economics.
