Exercise-induced bronchospasm among athletes in Lower Silesia Province

Abstract

A few studies have reported data on the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in high school and university athletes. Recently published data suggest that exercise-induced bronchospasm may affect up to 39% of American university athletes. To date, no data describing this pathology in athletes from Central Europe have been published. The aim of the present study was to establish the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in pupils attending sports mastership classes in secondary school as well as students of the University of Physical Education in Wroclaw. The participants were 77 athletes (30 women and 47 men) aged 16–27 years (mean 17.3 years). Only one athlete (1.29%) diagnosed with atopic asthma before testing experienced a fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (12.9% FEV₁) compared with baseline, which showed that the exercise test result was positive. From a clinical point of view, the ventilation disturbance was asymptomatic. In the other participants, there were slight but statistically significant rises in FEV₁ (P < 0.02). The results of our study indicate a very low prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in the population of athletes examined.