Cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of type 2 diabetes: a cohort study of Japanese male athletes

Abstract

BackgroundIn Japan, although the incidence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) is still low compared with that in Europe and the United States, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased over the last 15 years,. In both Japanese and Caucasian populations it has been reported that a high level of cardiorespiratory fitness protects against the development of type 2 diabetes. However, there are no reports focused specifically on athletes that investigate whether high cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age can prevent disease later in life. We examined the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age and the development of type 2 diabetes in Japanese athletes using a cohort study.MethodsThe cardiorespiratory fitness of male alumni of the physical education department of Juntendo University, as measured by stored data of a 1,500-m endurance run in college (1971–1991) was compared with their incidence of type 2 diabetes as determined by follow-up questionnaires (2007–2009). This study used Cox’s proportional hazards models and adjusted for age, year of graduation, BMI, smoking, and sports club participation at college age.ResultsWe collected data on cardiorespiratory fitness at college age and medical history survey data during 2007–2009 from 570 male alumni. The median follow-up period was 26 years (IQR: 23–29 years), and 22 men had developed type 2 diabetes. An inverse relationship was observed between incidence of type 2 diabetes and level of cardiorespiratory fitness at time of college after adjustment for age, year of graduation, BMI, smoking, and sports participation. The adjusted hazards ratio and 95% CI by category (low, medium, and high) were 1.00 (reference), 0.40 (0.14–1.13) and 0.26 (0.07–1.00) (p = 0.03 for trend).ConclusionsA high level of cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age can help prevent type 2 diabetes later in life.

Physical activity and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis

“…Five cohort studies (seven publications) [23,50,77,78,[83][84][85] including 1273 cases and 38,870 participants were included in the analysis of cardiorespiratory fitness and type 2 diabetes risk. Two publications reported separately on men and women from the same study, Ref.…”

Physical fitness for health

“…Juntendo University alumni study (2014) 24) . This study involved a follow-up of graduates from Juntendo University.…”

Muscle strength at young age is not associated with future development of type 2 diabetes in Japanese male athletes

“…Thus, it is also possible that muscle strength in middle age men is a good marker for the prediction of T2DM, but not at a young age. Nonetheless, our data showed that Japanese male athletes with high cardiorespiratory fitness during their college years are at low risk for future T2DM 11) , similar to the general population 20) .…”

“…The Physical Education School of Juntendo University Alumni Cohort Study included subjects engaged in college sports clubs such as track and field, gymnastics, soccer, and judo, and who participated in training for competitions in their respective sport 11) . Most of the study subjects were competitive athletes at least while attending the college.…”

“…The main theme of the present study was the relationship between physical performance during college attendance and future disease development. The study subjects also participated in a previous study published by our group, which found that high-level cardiorespiratory fitness at a young age could predict T2DM later in life 11) . The present study is an extension of the above study and was designed to determine the relationship between muscle strength and future development of T2DM.…”