ArticleFrontiers in physiology2026
Exploratory study of reactive agility and sprint performance during Ramadan intermittent fasting in male adolescent handball players from a Tunisian club.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: This exploratory study investigated performance changes across the Ramadan period in adolescent U18 male handball players, focusing on reactive agility, linear sprint performance, and pre-planned change-of-direction (Modified Agility Test: MAT) in U18 male handball players. Given the observational design, findings should be interpreted cautiously. Methods: Thirty adolescent players (mean age 17.5 ± 0.09 years) from a competitive Tunisian club were assessed at five time points: before Ramadan, during weeks 1, 2, and 4, and two weeks post-Ramadan. Tests included 10 m, 20 m, and 30 m sprints, the Modified Agility T-test (MAT), and a Y-shaped reactive agility test (RAT). Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Results: RAT performance progressively deteriorated across Ramadan and remained impaired two weeks post- Ramadan (p < 0.001). Sprint performance showed transient improvements early in Ramadan, followed by declines, particularly over 20-30 m. MAT performance remained relatively stable across all time points. Body mass and body mass index decreased significantly during Ramadan (p < 0.001) and returned close to baseline post-Ramadan. Conclusion: This exploratory study observed selective performance changes across the Ramadan period, with RAT declining most consistently, sprint performance showing transient changes, and MAT remaining relatively stable despite statistically significant differences. These findings may reflect the combined influence of physiological and contextual factors. However, due to the observational design and absence of a control group, causality cannot be established and results should be interpreted cautiously.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.