If you've ever been so excited watching a football or hockey game, you felt you could just die, you may be more right than you might have wanted to think.

A new study suggests the stress and excitement of major sporting events can trigger heart attacks among fans, especially those with known heart conditions.

German researchers tracking cardiac emergencies during the 2006 World Cup of Soccer (which Germany hosted), found that on the days when Germany played, the rate of cardiac events, such as heart attacks, angina attacks or cardiac arrhythmias was 2.66 higher than the norm.

The rate of such events among women was 1.82 times higher than average, while the rate for men was a whopping 3.26 times higher than normal.

Among those who suffered heart emergencies on days when the German team played, 47 per cent had been diagnosed with heart disease in the past. Normally, only about 29 per cent of patients who head to hospital for a heart emergency have already had a diagnosis of heart disease.

"Viewing a stressful soccer match more than doubles the risk of an acute cardiovascular event," the authors write in the conclusion of their study, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

While the study applied just to soccer, a game not as loved in North America as hockey or football, the results could likely be applied to the viewing of other sporting events.

The study is no big news to cardiologists in this country, such as Dr. Anthony Graham of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, who often sees the fallout in emergency rooms on game day.

"You will typically see a patient who has known cardiac risk factors -- a male in all likelihood, who is overweight, frequently a smoker, somebody who has high blood pressure," he says.

Dr. Scott Delaney, an emergency room and sports medicine physician with the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, says it appears that the hearts of many sports fans simply can't handle the stress.

"During the period of stress, the heart beat and blood pressure get increased. And what's funny is it doesn't matter whether they are winning; it's just the actual stress of the whole process that seems to predispose them to cardiac events," he told Canada AM.

"Reading this study made we wonder whether if the Leafs ever played the Canadiens in a tight conference final, whether we'd end up overloading the Canadian health care system with people showing up to emergency rooms with chest pains," he joked. 

Delaney notes that the game itself may be just one factor contributing to the stress.

"There's the stress of watching the game, but oftentimes there are parties around the event, where people are drinking more than usual, people are not eating as well as they should," he says.

As well, some fans may have gambled on the game, and need to achieve a certain point spread to win money, so they would be stressed throughout the entire game, not just concerned about who won or lost.

Delaney says he's a little worried about what will happen at ERs across Canada this weekend, when the New York Giants confront the undefeated New England Patriots.

He notes that the study authors themselves suggest that one of the ways heart disease patients can protect themselves is to discuss with their doctor whether they should increase their heart medications in anticipation of the stress of a big game.

"For people who have a cardiac problem who in the past have perhaps thought 'I remember during those games, I didn't feel well. I get so anxious and so stressed, I have trouble breathing and I sometimes get chest pains,' that would be the type of person who should speak to their physician about this idea," he said.