Continuous Glucose Monitoring Profiles in Elite-Level Professional European Football Players

This descriptive observational study reports on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data, using a novel glucose biosensor (Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor), during professional game play and during daily life in elite European football players.

Eighteen healthy male elite football players (age: 27.5 ± 5.1 years; height 180.1 ± 7.2 cm, weight 74.2 ± 9.1 kg, UEFA Champions League club) participated, with a subset examined for a single game for active (n = 10) and reserve (n = 4) players. Group comparisons used unpaired t-tests or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests; within-group differences used repeated measures one-way analysis of variance or Friedman test. Descriptive statistics were summarized for 24-hour data for daytime (06:00 am-10:59 pm) and nighttime (11:00 pm-05:59 am).

Higher mean CGM glucose was observed during-game in active compared with reserve players (159 ± 23 vs 133 ± 25 mg/dL, P = .09), with significantly higher time above range (TAR, 72.8 ± 32.02 vs 29.7 ± 37.9%, P = .04) and lower time in range (TIR, 26.7 ± 31.9 vs 70.3 ± 37.9%, P = .04). In the 90 minute pre- to 180 minute post-game period, TAR (57.3 ± 26.6% vs 16.1 ± 20.2%, P = .02) and mean iG (149 ± 19 vs 123 ± 14 mg/dL, P = .02) remained higher for active players. For all 18 players, TIR was 89.4 ± 11.7 and 91.6 ± 13.7%, TAR was 5.9 ± 6.7 and 2.9 ± 5.7%, and time below range was 4.5 ± 10.5 and 5.3 ± 13.2% for day and night, respectively.

This observational study suggests that elite European footballers may have significant increases in glycemia, as measured by CGM, supporting the notion that mild hyperglycemia can occur during and after active competition in healthy and metabolically normal athletes, perhaps because of competition stress.