What to Know About Rhabdomyolysis, the Condition Linked to a Marathon Runner’s Death
“I was a nephrologist on call during this time, and I saw a lot of patients. And I said, ‘Man, this feels way more than what I remember,'” he says.
What risk factors make rhabdomyolysis more likely?
Temperature is a big one, says Farrell. When you exercise, your body needs to shed heat fast. When it’s hot and humid, the body might not be able to cool down quickly enough to avoid the muscle damage that could lead to rhabdomyolysis.
Another factor is sudden temperature shifts. Slow temperature changes the body can handle: “If you are going to go somewhere that’s hotter or more humid than what you’re used to, your body needs about a week or two actually to acclimate,” he says. But big jumps are harder. He and his colleagues suspect this contributed to the large number of cases in 2022, which was the hottest and most humid year since the marathon moved to November in 1986. Among the years he studied, “2022 was also the only marathon in which it was much hotter the day of the marathon than the previous two weeks,” he says.
