Respiratory and Allergy Research Unit, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, 2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark.
Br J Sports Med. 2009 Dec;43(14):1131-5. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2008.054924. Epub 2009 Feb 6.
Asthma is frequent in elite athletes and clinical studies in athletes have found increased airway inflammation.
To investigate asthma-like symptoms, airway inflammation, airway reactivity (AR) to mannitol and use of asthma medication in Danish elite athletes.
The study group consisted of 54 elite athletes (19 with doctor-diagnosed asthma), 22 non-athletes with doctor-diagnosed asthma (steroid naive for 4 weeks before the examination) and 35 non-athletes without asthma; all aged 18-35 years. Examinations (1 day): questionnaires, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) in parts per billion, spirometry, skin prick test, AR to mannitol and blood samples. Induced sputum was done in subjects with asthma.
No significant difference was found in values for eNO, AR and atopy between 42 elite athletes with and 12 without asthma-like symptoms. Elite athletes with doctor-diagnosed asthma had less AR (response dose ratio 0.02 (0.004) vs 0.08 (0.018) p<0.01) and fewer sputum eosinophils (0.8% (0-4.8) vs 6.0% (0-18.5), p<0.01) than non-athletes with doctor-diagnosed asthma. Use of inhaled corticosteroids was similar in the two groups (not significant). In all, 42 elite athletes had asthma-like symptoms but only 12 had evidence of current asthma. Elite athletes without asthma had asthma-like symptoms more frequently than non-athletes without asthma (68.6% vs 25.7%, p<0.001).
Asthma-like symptoms in elite athletes are not necessarily associated with classic features of asthma and alone should not give a diagnosis of asthma. More studies are needed to further investigate if and how the asthma phenotype of elite athletes differs from that of classical asthma.
哮喘在精英运动员中很常见，运动员的临床研究发现气道炎症增加。
调查丹麦精英运动员中类似哮喘的症状、气道炎症、甘露醇气道反应性（AR）和哮喘药物的使用情况。
研究组包括 54 名精英运动员（19 名被诊断患有哮喘）、22 名被诊断患有哮喘的非运动员（在检查前 4 周接受了类固醇治疗）和 35 名无哮喘的非运动员；所有年龄在 18-35 岁之间。检查（1 天）：问卷调查、呼出的一氧化氮（eNO）、肺活量测定、皮肤点刺试验、甘露醇 AR 和血液样本。对有哮喘的受试者进行诱导痰检查。
42 名有类似哮喘症状的精英运动员和 12 名无类似哮喘症状的精英运动员之间，eNO、AR 和过敏反应值无显著差异。被诊断患有哮喘的精英运动员的 AR 较低（反应剂量比 0.02（0.004）比 0.08（0.018），p<0.01），痰中嗜酸性粒细胞较少（0.8%（0-4.8）比 6.0%（0-18.5），p<0.01），而非运动员则没有。两组吸入皮质类固醇的使用情况相似（无统计学意义）。共有 42 名精英运动员有类似哮喘的症状，但只有 12 名有当前哮喘的证据。无哮喘的精英运动员比无哮喘的非运动员更频繁地出现类似哮喘的症状（68.6%比 25.7%，p<0.001）。
精英运动员的类似哮喘症状不一定与哮喘的典型特征有关，单独出现不应该诊断为哮喘。需要进一步研究精英运动员的哮喘表型是否与经典哮喘不同，以及如何不同。
