BACKGROUND: Asthma is frequently found in athletes, often associated with rhinitis and allergy. AIM: To study the predictive value of allergy and pulmonary function tests for the diagnosis of asthma in athletes. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Ninety-eight national preOlympic athletes underwent an accurate medical examination including a validated questionnaire for asthma and rhinitis, spirometric recordings and skin prick testing with a panel of the most frequent inhalant allergens. Bronchodilator and/or exercise challenge were also performed in asthmatic subjects. RESULTS: Clinical asthma was present in 20.4% of athletes, rhinitis in 35.3% (in 21.4% of cases alone and in 13.9% associated with asthma). Positive prick tests were recorded in 44.4% of athletes (in 60.5% of asthmatics, in 95.2% of rhinitics and in 21.0% of nonasthmatic - nonrhinitic subjects). Mean spirometric values and distribution of abnormal values were not different among asthmatics, rhinitics and nonasthmatics - nonrhinitic patients. Skin-tests positivity was not related to the abnormal spirometric data found in individual cases. Provocation tests with bronchodilators or exercise did not appear sensitive enough to diagnose mild forms of asthma in subjects with normal basal spirometric values. CONCLUSIONS: Allergy testing and spirometry should be performed routinely in athletes because of the high prevalence of allergy, rhinitis and asthma in this population. However, the predictive value of these tests and of the bronchial provocation tests performed in this study seems too low to document mild or subclinical asthma in athletes.
BACKGROUND:Asthma is frequently found in athletes, often associated with rhinitis and allergy. AIM: To study the predictive value of allergy and pulmonary function tests for the diagnosis of asthma in athletes. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Ninety-eight national preOlympic athletes underwent an accurate medical examination including a validated questionnaire for asthma and rhinitis, spirometric recordings and skin prick testing with a panel of the most frequent inhalant allergens. Bronchodilator and/or exercise challenge were also performed in asthmatic subjects. RESULTS: Clinical asthma was present in 20.4% of athletes, rhinitis in 35.3% (in 21.4% of cases alone and in 13.9% associated with asthma). Positive prick tests were recorded in 44.4% of athletes (in 60.5% of asthmatics, in 95.2% of rhinitics and in 21.0% of nonasthmatic - nonrhinitic subjects). Mean spirometric values and distribution of abnormal values were not different among asthmatics, rhinitics and nonasthmatics - nonrhinitic patients. Skin-tests positivity was not related to the abnormal spirometric data found in individual cases. Provocation tests with bronchodilators or exercise did not appear sensitive enough to diagnose mild forms of asthma in subjects with normal basal spirometric values. CONCLUSIONS:Allergy testing and spirometry should be performed routinely in athletes because of the high prevalence of allergy, rhinitis and asthma in this population. However, the predictive value of these tests and of the bronchial provocation tests performed in this study seems too low to document mild or subclinical asthma in athletes.
Authors: Isabella Pali-Schöll; Wolfgang Pohl; Werner Aberer; Felix Wantke; Friedrich Horak; Erika Jensen-Jarolim; Nikolai Khaltaev; Jean Bousquet Journal: Wien Med Wochenschr Date: 2009
Authors: Nikolaos G Papadopoulos; Ioana Agache; Sevim Bavbek; Beatrice M Bilo; Fulvio Braido; Victoria Cardona; Adnan Custovic; Jan Demonchy; Pascal Demoly; Philippe Eigenmann; Jacques Gayraud; Clive Grattan; Enrico Heffler; Peter W Hellings; Marek Jutel; Edward Knol; Jan Lötvall; Antonella Muraro; Lars K Poulsen; Graham Roberts; Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier; Chrysanthi Skevaki; Massimo Triggiani; Ronald Vanree; Thomas Werfel; Breda Flood; Susanna Palkonen; Roberta Savli; Pia Allegri; Isabella Annesi-Maesano; Francesco Annunziato; Dario Antolin-Amerigo; Christian Apfelbacher; Miguel Blanca; Ewa Bogacka; Patrizia Bonadonna; Matteo Bonini; Onur Boyman; Knut Brockow; Peter Burney; Jeroen Buters; Indre Butiene; Moises Calderon; Lars Olaf Cardell; Jean-Christoph Caubet; Sevcan Celenk; Ewa Cichocka-Jarosz; Cemal Cingi; Mariana Couto; Nicolette Dejong; Stefano Del Giacco; Nikolaos Douladiris; Filippo Fassio; Jean-Luc Fauquert; Javier Fernandez; Montserrat Fernandez Rivas; Marta Ferrer; Carsten Flohr; James Gardner; Jon Genuneit; Philippe Gevaert; Anna Groblewska; Eckard Hamelmann; Hans Jürgen Hoffmann; Karin Hoffmann-Sommergruber; Lilit Hovhannisyan; Valérie Hox; Frode L Jahnsen; Omer Kalayci; Ayse Füsun Kalpaklioglu; Jörg Kleine-Tebbe; George Konstantinou; Marcin Kurowski; Susanne Lau; Roger Lauener; Antti Lauerma; Kirsty Logan; Antoine Magnan; Joanna Makowska; Heidi Makrinioti; Paraskevi Mangina; Felicia Manole; Adriano Mari; Angel Mazon; Clare Mills; Ervinç Mingomataj; Bodo Niggemann; Gunnar Nilsson; Markus Ollert; Liam O'Mahony; Serena O'Neil; Gianni Pala; Alberto Papi; Gianni Passalacqua; Michael Perkin; Oliver Pfaar; Constantinos Pitsios; Santiago Quirce; Ulrike Raap; Monika Raulf-Heimsoth; Claudio Rhyner; Paula Robson-Ansley; Rodrigo Rodrigues Alves; Zeljka Roje; Carmen Rondon; Odilija Rudzeviciene; Franziska Ruëff; Maia Rukhadze; Gabriele Rumi; Cansin Sackesen; Alexandra F Santos; Annalisa Santucci; Christian Scharf; Carsten Schmidt-Weber; Benno Schnyder; Jürgen Schwarze; Gianenrico Senna; Svetlana Sergejeva; Sven Seys; Andrea Siracusa; Isabel Skypala; Milena Sokolowska; Francois Spertini; Radoslaw Spiewak; Aline Sprikkelman; Gunter Sturm; Ines Swoboda; Ingrid Terreehorst; Elina Toskala; Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann; Carina Venter; Berber Vlieg-Boerstra; Paul Whitacker; Margitta Worm; Paraskevi Xepapadaki; Cezmi A Akdis Journal: Clin Transl Allergy Date: 2012-11-02 Impact factor: 5.871