Comparison of forearm muscle fatigue among apparently healthy young adults with and without diabetogenic genes

Abstract

Background: Diabetes is primarily a genetic disorder. Whether the forearm muscle fatigue, handgrip strength (HGS), and phase angle difference between young adults with diabetic genes and their counterparts are not known. We designed a cross-sectional study to compare these variables among young healthy adults with diabetic parents in one group and nondiabetic parents in the other. Methodology: Forearm muscle fatigue, HGS, and phase angle were measured in 60 young healthy adults aged 18 to 23 years with body mass index between 18 and 23.4. Among them, 30 had at least one parent who had been a diabetic for more than 3 years and the other thirty had nondiabetic parents (both parents having fasting blood sugar <100 mg/dl). Results: The continuous variables between the groups, which were normally distributed, were analyzed using the independent sample t-test. Data that were nonnormally distributed were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. Forearm muscle fatigue of young adults with diabetic parents increased significantly compared to their counterparts (P = 0.005). HGS was greater among adults with nondiabetic parents compared to adults with diabetic parents, although this was not statistically significant. Phase angle did not show any significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: A simple noninvasive measurement like forearm muscle fatigue is found to be increased among young healthy adults with diabetogenic genes when compared to their counterparts without diabetogenic genes. Prospective studies need to be performed to show increased muscle fatigue as a predictor of future incidence of diabetes.