College athletes suffer from exercise-induced asthma

11 September, 2007

Many college athletes in the United States are showing signs of exercise-induced asthma.

The researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center, the United States, who screened 107 Ohio State college athletes for exercise-induced asthma, discovered that, of those tested for breathing problems, over one-third of the athletes tested positive.

The athletes’ sports include basketball, football, gymnastics, ice-hockey, lacrosse, rowing, tennis, volleyball, and wrestling.

Exercise-induced asthma occurs when airflow to the lungs is reduced due to narrowing and closing of the airways in association with exercise, which
usually occurs just after exercise.

Exercise is one of the most common triggers of bronchospasm in patients with chronic asthma, with exercise-induced asthma occurring in approximately 80% to 90% of individuals with known asthma. In addition, one out of every 10 people has no classic features of chronic asthma, yet still experience symptoms of asthma during exercise.

The dangers of exercise-induced asthma can vary from a mild impairment of performance to serious respiratory problems.

The research team found that 42 (39%) of those examined tested positive for asthma. What surprised the researchers more was that 36 of the athletes had no previous history of asthma.

Exercise-induced asthma affects most asthma patients and is more common in elite athletes than in the general public.

In the study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the researchers said the findings were not influenced by the sex of the athlete or by the sport.

According to Dr Jonathan Parsons, lead author of the study, college athletes were chosen because of the many reports of severe episodes of asthma provoked by exercise which have occurred among competitive athletes under the age of 21.

Now that it has been found to be a quite common problem, Dr Parsons believes that more research is needed to determine the best way to monitor
and manage athletes at the highest risk of developing symptoms while participating in their sports.

One important finding of the study, Dr Parsons says, is that a history of symptoms with exercise is not enough to make a correct diagnosis and could expose people to unnecessary medications. Objective confirmation of suspected exercise-induced asthma with appropriate testing is absolutely critical.

The findings of the researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center run parallel to earlier findings of a high prevalence of exercise-induced asthma among Olympic athletes.

The latest study also stresses the need to develop more routine diagnosis and management tools in athletes to detect the potentially serious condition among athletes.