Abstract
Background & Objectives:Sports activities are highly beneficial for improving the human health and reducing the risk of diseases. This cross sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus in cricket players compared to population based non-elite athlete control subjects.Methods:The present matched cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period October 2019 to February 2020. Initially, 700 volunteer males, (300) cricket players and (400) population based non-elite athlete control subjects were interviewed. After socio-demographic and medical history, (200) nonsmoker cricket players and (300) nonsmoker control subjects were recruited. The age of cricket players was 34 (32-37) years, weight 81 (76-84) kg, height 1.79 (1.74-1.84) meters, and body mass index (BMI) was 25.09 (23.66-26.76) kg/m2. The cricket players have been playing cricket for 4 (3-4) hours per day; 3.50 (3-4) days per week; for the total period of 24 (12-36) months. American Diabetes Association (ADA) based criteria on Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) was used to investigate the prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus.Results:In cricket players, the prevalence of prediabetes was 23 (11.5%) and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was 7 (3.5%) compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects the prediabetes was 73 (24.34%) and T2DM was 63 (21.1%) (p=0.001). Among cricket players, there was a 6-folds decrease in T2DM compared to control subjects.Conclusions:The cricket sports activities decrease the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among the cricket players compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects. The study findings demonstrate the urgent need for promoting sports activities, more cricket grounds as a physiological preventive strategy against the global growing diabetes epidemic.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus is a major global challenge, allied with substantial morbidity, mortality and huge economic burden on the healthcare system.1 Despite amazing developments in medical sciences, it is still an incurable life-long disease.2 The recent global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is 463 million; 374 million people are suffering from impaired glucose tolerance whereas 232Pak J Med Sci July - August 2021 Vol 37 No 4 www.pjms.org.pk 959 million people are unaware of the fact that they are suffering from the disease
The cricket sports activities decrease the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among the cricket players compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects
These cricket players were not involved in working exposure to any industries such as cement, coal, cotton, oil, flour, factories as these industries generate pollution, and pollution increases the prevalence of diabetes mellitus
Summary
Diabetes mellitus is a major global challenge, allied with substantial morbidity, mortality and huge economic burden on the healthcare system. Despite amazing developments in medical sciences, it is still an incurable life-long disease. The recent global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is 463 million; 374 million people are suffering from impaired glucose tolerance whereas 232Pak J Med Sci July - August 2021 Vol 37 No 4 www.pjms.org.pk 959 million people are unaware of the fact that they are suffering from the disease. Sports activities are highly beneficial for improving the human health and reducing the risk of diseases. This cross sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus in cricket players compared to population based non-elite athlete control subjects. Results: In cricket players, the prevalence of prediabetes was 23 (11.5%) and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was 7 (3.5%) compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects the prediabetes was 73 (24.34%) and T2DM was 63 (21.1%) (p=0.001). Conclusions: The cricket sports activities decrease the prevalence of prediabetes and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among the cricket players compared to population based matched non-elite athlete control subjects. The study findings demonstrate the urgent need for promoting sports activities, more cricket grounds as a physiological preventive strategy against the global growing diabetes epidemic
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