Here’s Why People Are 10 Times More Likely to Head to the ER Today

There’s a good chance that someone you know — maybe even you — needed a spur-of-the-moment visit with a doctor over the last 24 hours.

According to a study from the University of Florida (UF), people are 10 times more likely to seek emergency medical attention during or shortly after a national sporting event — like the Super Bowl — or a national holiday due to overeating.

The research team analyzed 11 years’ worth of data (between 2001 and 2012) from the emergency room at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and discovered that 38 people underwent an emergency procedure on the esophagus either during or within three days after a big game or major holiday. Nearly 37 percent of those patients were suffering from a medical issue due to a food impaction.

Interestingly enough, out of the 81 people who endured the same procedure either two weeks before or after a game day or holiday period, less than 4 percent of those adults were diagnosed with complications caused by food impaction.

These findings, which were published in December in Gastroenterology Report, also concluded that the majority of patients were men, and most of the cases occurred during or just days after Thanksgiving. However, other celebratory events, including the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve, were linked with higher incidences.

“We expected that there might be more patients presenting with food impactions on these special days, but no study ever proved that,” lead investigator Asim Shuja, MD, a gastroenterologist at UF’s Health Science Center in Jacksonville, Fla., tells Yahoo Beauty. “We were surprised, though, to observe a significant difference.”

He states that food impaction is the result of “food getting stuck or lodged in the food pipe — the esophagus.” While it sounds similar to choking, he further explains that “choking refers to the entry of food or foreign objects in the breathing tube, not the food pipe.”

Serving size, speed of consumption, and alcohol intake are three possible risk factors. “Also, patients who have a history of prior food impaction, prolonged acid reflux, cancer of the esophagus, or eosinophilic esophagitis [EoE, a chronic immune condition where a person suffers from inflammation of the esophagus, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology] are at a higher risk of food impaction,” Shuja says.

As for the three “dangerous” foods that ranked highest on the list: “Our study found more impaction of turkey, followed by chicken, then beef,” he adds.

“We think the main message here is for people to be aware and not to, for lack of a better term, overindulge,” Shuja says. “Not only the amount of food you’re eating during the holiday or event, but the size of the portion you’re eating can have a tremendous impact.”

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