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Ontario Tech study links Special Olympics participation to lower risk of diabetes

Ontario Tech study links Special Olympics participation to lower risk of diabetes

A study from Ontario Tech University finds that Special Olympics programs can help reduce diabetes rates.

The results, published in late June in the journal Diabetic medicinesuggest that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are 15 percent less likely to develop diabetes if they have competed in the past.

“People with (IDD) have a high rate of diabetes (compared to the general population),” Dr. Meghann Lloyd said in an interview with Durham Radio News. “If participation in something at a community level, like Special Olympics Ontario (…) lowers those rates, that health impact is good for individuals. It’s good for society. It’s good for everyone.”

The study, conducted by Lloyd and other researchers, looked at thousands of adults with IDD. Using provincial data, as well as information provided by Special Olympics Ontario, they were able to track each person’s health over periods of up to 20 years.

“It was data that already existed,” Lloyd explained. “We were able to get permission to analyze it.”

“It was all private and safe,” she added.

The data were divided into two groups: those who had participated in Special Olympics and those who had not. “Over the 20-year period, adults with IDD who did not participate in Special Olympics had a diabetes rate of 11.01 per 1,000 person-years, compared with 8.41 per 1,000 person-years for Special Olympics participants,” according to a university news release.

They also examined other variables, such as age, gender, income and location (rural versus urban), but these did not appear to have a significant effect. “We were able to control all of those variables in our analysis,” Lloyd said.

The results may be related to an active lifestyle, free health checks or the community aspect.

“We can’t pinpoint the exact mechanism by which that population had lower rates of diabetes,” she explained. “But we definitely believe that the physical activity, (…) competition and participation is a primary factor. We also think that (…) the health checks, and just the mentorship and supportive environment, probably had an impact.”

“In relation to the cost of treating diabetes, Special Olympics is a relatively low-cost intervention,” Lloyd said. “They have incredible reach. Special Olympics is part of almost every community in Canada and they do incredible work.”

You can read the full report here.

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