From the participants of the Vasaloppet, the world’s largest ski-race, and matched individuals from the
general population (n=708 604), we identified 5964 patients hospitalized with a first-time stroke between 1994 and 2010.
Individuals with severe diseases were excluded. One half percent of skiers and 1% of nonskiers were hospitalized due to stroke.
The incidence rate was 8.3 per 100 person-years among skiers and 11.1 among nonskiers. The hazard ratio (HR) for recurrent
stroke or death between the 2 groups was 0.76 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.86). The result was consistent in subgroups. The HR for death
was 0.66 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.78) and for recurrent stroke 0.82 (95% CI 0.70 to 0.96). After adjustment for smoking and
socioeconomic factors, the HR for death was consistent at 0.70 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.87) while the HR for recurrent stroke was not
statistically significant. Outcomes for skiers with atrial fibrillation tended to show a lower risk than for nonskiers.