Former endurance athletes had a dramatically lower risk of type 2 diabetes (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.07-0.81) and ischaemic heart disease (OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.18-0.61) compared to matched controls.
Does participating in elite endurance-type sports reduce the risk of premature death, type 2 diabetes, and ischaemic heart disease compared to the general population?
Former elite endurance athletes have significantly lower risks of type 2 diabetes and ischaemic heart disease compared to matched controls.
Odds Ratio: 0.24 (95% CI 0.07–0.81)
It is now incontrovertible that properly tailored exercise therapy increases physical fitness, reduces depression, lowers cardiometabolic risk factors, reduces pain and improves health-related quality of life in chronically ill patients. Former elite athletes usually exercise more than population controls during their later life. Participating in elite endurance-type sports—an indicator of exceptionally high aerobic fitness—is associated with low risk of premature death, at least before the use of doping became common.1 2 Athlete mortality statistics are often compared with data from the general population. Finnish male former elite athletes outlived matched controls who were healthy at the age of 20.1 In former endurance athletes, the risk of type 2 diabetes (OR adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, body mass index and smoking 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.81) and ischaemic heart disease (adjusted OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.61) were dramatically lower than in matched controls. These partly genetically determined1 3 health advantages, combined with a lower rate of smoking, …
Urho M. Kujala (Mon,) conducted a editorial in Long-term health. Former elite endurance athlete status vs. Matched controls from the general population was evaluated on Type 2 diabetes (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.81). Former endurance athletes had a dramatically lower risk of type 2 diabetes (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.07-0.81) and ischaemic heart disease (OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.18-0.61) compared to matched controls.