Abstract
There are about 466 million people with hearing impairments in the world. The scientific literature does not provide sufficient data on the actual nutrition and other variables of professional deaf athletes. The objectives of this study were to investigate and evaluate the body composition, the physical working capacity, the nutrition intake, and the blood parameters of iron and vitamin D in the Lithuanian high-performance deaf women’s basketball team players. The female athletes (n = 14) of the Lithuanian deaf basketball team aged 26.4 ± 4.5 years were recruited for an observational cross-sectional study. A 7-day food recall survey method was used to investigate their actual diet. The measurements of the body composition were performed using the BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis) tetra-polar electrodes. In order to assess the cardiorespiratory and aerobic fitness levels of athletes, ergo-spirometry (on a cycle ergometer) was used to measure the peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and the physical working capacity at a heart rate of 170 beats per minute (PWC170). The athletes’ blood tests were taken to investigate the red blood cells, hemoglobin, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, ferritin, transferrin, iron concentrations, and total iron-binding capacity (TIBC). The consideration of the VO2peak (55.9 ± 6.1 mL/min/kg of body weight, 95% CI: 51.8, 58.9) and the low VO2peak (56–60 mL/min/kg of body weight) (p = 0.966) in the deaf women’s basketball team players revealed no differences. For the deaf female athletes, the PWC170 was equal to 20.3 ± 2.0 kgm/min/kg of body weight and represented only the average aerobic fitness level. The carbohydrate and protein intakes (5.0 ± 1.3 and 1.3 ± 0.3 g/kg of body weight, respectively) met only the minimum levels recommended for athletes. The fat content of the diet (38.1 ± 4.1% of energy intake) exceeded the maximum recommended content (35% of energy intake) (p = 0.012). The mean blood serum concentrations of 25(OH)D and ferritin (24.1 ± 6.6 nmol/L and 11.0 ± 4.1 µg/L, respectively) predicted vitamin D and iron deficits in athletes. Female athletes had an increased risk of vitamin D and iron deficiencies. Regardless of iron deficiency in the body, the better cardiorespiratory fitness of the deaf female athletes was essentially correlated with the higher skeletal muscle mass (in terms of size) (r = 0.61, p = 0.023), the lower percentage of body fat mass (r = −0.53, p = 0.049), and the reduced intake of fat (r = −0.57, p = 0.040).
Highlights
There are about 466 million people with hearing impairments in the world [1]
In order to evaluate the training load plans of the athletes involved in the study, the training plans for athletes officially approved by the Department of Physical Culture and Sports and the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee were followed (Table 1)
When analysing the body composition of Lithuanian deaf athletes, we found that the body fat mass (24.2% of BW) of the deaf women we studied was similar to the body fat mass (24.50% of BW) of elite deaf athletes from Turkey [46], and was greater than the body fat mass (21.2% of BW) of female deaf athletes of the Polish deaf national team [47]
Summary
The term a deaf athlete refers to an athlete with a hearing impairment (deaf, hard of hearing) and an athlete who has a cochlear implant. In order to have the right to participate in the international elite competitions for deaf athletes, where it is forbidden to use a hearing aid or an external part of the cochlear implant during the competition, the only restriction is related to meeting the criterion of a minimum damage of. The international elite competitions for deaf athletes include major sports events such as the Deaflympics, previously called The World Games for the Deaf, The World Deaf Championships, and The Continental Deaf. The scientific literature provides very little data on the nutrition, body composition, and physical capacity of deaf athletes. There is no scientific evidence that identifies an association between the body composition, hematological profile, and physical capacity of the deaf athletes’ population
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