Effect of Intense Physical Exercise in Sports Personnel on Hematological Parameters – A Prospective Analytical Study

Abstract

Introduction:  Hematological parameters alter in high intensity physical exercises in a common manner.  It might be due to various factors like – altered blood flow, hormonal changes, complex neurological signals etc., The changes in all the organs and organ systems are evident in them and blood being one of the most vital tissue of the body which carries oxygen and aids in defence mechanism, definitely shows variable changes in these individuals. Physical and physiological changes in virtually all organs and structures within the human body can occur during physical activity

Aim: To evaluate hematological profile in athletes and sportspersons who are involved in intense physical performance or activity 

Objectives: To assess the demographic details of athletes, sportspersons with intense physical performance depending with relation to the type of sport, duration of intense physical activity (8-12 hrs of activity per week) from past one year of period and alterations in hematological parameters accordingly..

Materials and Methods:  It is a cross-sectional prospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital from a period of May 2025 to April 2026.  Only the male individuals (to exclude statistical bias in comparison to females) were classified into four different groups based on sport played viz., Athletes (A), Cricket players (B), Volley ball (C) and Basket ball (D) players with total of 267 individuals attending out-patient departments and are undergoing complete Blood Picture (CBP) with Peripheral smear has been performed with automated cell counter and manual technique using Leishman’s stain respectively.  The slides were evaluated under microscope (100x) oil immersion.  All findings were tabulated and statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel and R software.

Results:  Hematological alterations was observed more commonly in young adult age group between 18-25 years.  There is remarkable depression in Hemoglobin, RBC, Hematocrit, MCV and MCH in Group D.  RDW is raised and showed significant increase in both Group C and Group D individuals. 

Conclusion:  The most affected players were the athletes who practice for a long duration and in imminent stress. The hematological conditions of all the players should be evaluated periodically at different times. This step will be a beneficial bench mark for trainers to tailor the training program for different individuals practicing different sports.