Child and Adolescent Athletes With Diabetes

Abstract

In brief: The common desire to participate in sports can be harnessed to encourage children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes to participate actively in controlling their disease. This is partly because the diabetic who successfully learns to control blood glucose during exercise by wise regulation of diet and insulin is rewarded with enhanced athletic performance. Age, duration of the diabetes, insulin dosage, hypoglycemia, seasonality, training, duration of training periods, and calorie intake must be considered in prescribing specific exercise regimens for diabetic youngsters. To participate in endurance sports, persons with diabetes must manage the effects of exogenous insulin on their normal triphasic metabolic fuel supply derived from muscle, liver, and adipose tissue. If educational guidelines are followed and potential risks due to complications are taken into account, the benefits of regular exercise early in the course of the disease outweigh potential disadvantages.