Sport for all?

Hypoglycaemia may complicate exercise in insulin‐treated diabetic patients. An exercise‐induced fall in blood glucose has been well documented in the laboratory, but little has been published on the prevalence of clinically significant exercise‐induced hypoglycaemia. We studied the prevalence of exercise‐induced hypoglycaemia in patients attending our adolescent diabetes clinic by means of a questionnaire. Of the 55 respondents (mean age 16.9±1.6 years and mean diabetes duration 7.2±3.9 years), 45 took regular exercise. Only four (9%) patients were troubled by hypoglycaemia: one had proven factitious hypoglycaemia and three had better blood glucose control than the group as a whole (mean glycated haemoglobin (HbA₁) for the hypoglycaemic patients 8.4±1.4 v 10.3±2.3% for the group as a whole). Forty‐two (93%) of the patients took precautions against hypoglycaemia: 31 altered their diet, three altered insulin and eight altered both. The diabetic patients performed as much sport as their non‐diabetic peers (4.2±3.1 v 4.4±3.7 hours/week). We conclude that exercise‐induced hypoglycaemia is uncommon in adolescent diabetic patients with satisfactory blood glucose control and that hypoglycaemia need not limit exercise in these young people provided appropriate precautions have been taken.