PREVALENCE OF DIABETES, HYPERTENSION, AND ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE IN FORMER ELITE ATHLETES

Diabetes, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease are less frequent a mong physically active subjects. The aim of the present national popul ation-based study was to compare the prevalence of these three disease s between former Finnish elite athletes and referents. The subjects co nsisted of surviving former male athletes who represented Finland betw een the years 1920 and 1965 at least once in international competition s and referents who at the age of 20 were classified as completely hea lthy at a medical examination, and who responded to a questionnaire in 1985 (athletes, n = 1,282; referents n = 777). In 1985, they complete d a questionnaire with medical, life style, and psychosocial items; at that time, the leisure physical activity was greater in previous athl etes than in referents. The presence or absence of the three diseases was identified from the questionnaire or from at least one of three re gisters: Finnish hospital inpatient discharge register, reimbursable m edication register, and disability pension register. When compared wit h referents, both endurance and mixed-sports athletes had tower age-ad justed odds ratios (ORs) for all studied diseases. Compared with refer ents, power-sports athletes had a higher risk for high body mass index (BMI) but a lower risk for ischemic heart disease. Subjects with high BMI had an increased risk for all three diseases. Smokers had a highe r risk for diabetes and ischemic heart disease compared with those who were never smokers. After adjustments for age, BMI, smoking history, and occupational group, compared with referents, former endurance athl etes had the lowest ORs for diabetes (OR 0.24; 95% confidence interval , 0.07 to 0.81) and ischemic heart disease (OR 0.33; 0.18 to 0.61). Ou r study design does not permit us to distinguish whether exercise itse lf or other factors are the most important protective mechanisms. In p articular, it was not possible to evaluate the possible genetic select ion bias. We conclude that past participation in top-level aerobic spo rts is associated with a low prevalence of the studied diseases, which is likely to be explained by high leisure-time physical exercise and other life-style factors having health benefits. Copyright (C) 1994 by W.B. Saunders Company