Almeida-Neto Paulo Francisco de, de Medeiros Jason Azevedo, Jaggers Jason R, Ferreira Ayrton Bruno de Morais, de Assis Gilmara Gomes, Cabral Breno Guilherme de Araújo Tinôco, Dantas Paulo Moreira Silva
Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte Brazil.
Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Sports Health. 2025 Jan-Feb;17(1):46-56. doi: 10.1177/19417381231212481. Epub 2023 Nov 24.
Exercise immunology is aimed at understanding how exercise sessions can affect the immune system in athletic subjects of different age groups. The objective of the current study was to discuss in which stage of biological maturation (BM) young athletes may be more vulnerable in relation to the immune system, and whether there is a BM range in which it is safer to perform sports training with strenuous exercise loads.
Evidence from scientific research from several scientific disciplines (eg, immunology, sport immunology, pediatrics, sports medicine, human development) was gathered to holistically examine the main particularities of exercise immunology as applied to pediatric sport.
Narrative review.
Level 5.
In pediatric patients, lymphoid tissue expands during puberty and involutes after puberty until it returns to pre-expansion values. This suggests that there is a specific period in which the immune system may be stronger, which may provide opportunities for strenuous exercise in pediatric athletes. However, the chronological period when puberty occurs will be determined by BM, which is the rate at which the biological systems of the human body improves. This may affect the period of lymphoid tissue expansion and, consequently, the behavior of the immune system in pediatric subjects of the same age category.
During puberty, there is a significant increase in the proinflammatory profile; to compensate for this, there is an expansion of lymphoid tissue that may favor the efficiency of the immune system. The period in which puberty is reached may vary according to the stages of BM. Therefore, in exercise immunology applied to pediatric sports, in addition to external and internal training loads, it is necessary to consider BM and puberty, which have been shown to be safer biomarkers than chronological age for determining immune system behavior in pediatric athletes.
STRENGTH-OF-RECOMMENDATION TAXONOMY (SORT): Evidence B level 3.
运动免疫学旨在了解运动如何影响不同年龄组运动员的免疫系统。本研究的目的是探讨年轻运动员在生物成熟(BM)的哪个阶段可能在免疫系统方面更易受影响,以及是否存在一个BM范围,在该范围内进行高强度运动负荷的体育训练更安全。
收集了来自多个科学学科(如免疫学、运动免疫学、儿科学、运动医学、人类发育学)的科学研究证据,以全面研究应用于儿童运动的运动免疫学的主要特点。
叙述性综述。
5级。
在儿科患者中,淋巴组织在青春期会扩张,青春期后会退化,直至恢复到扩张前的值。这表明存在一个免疫系统可能更强的特定时期,这可能为儿科运动员进行高强度运动提供机会。然而,青春期发生的时间将由BM决定,BM是人体生物系统改善的速率。这可能会影响淋巴组织扩张的时期,进而影响同一年龄段儿科受试者免疫系统的行为。
在青春期,促炎特征显著增加;为了弥补这一点,淋巴组织会扩张,这可能有利于免疫系统的效率。达到青春期的时期可能因BM阶段而异。因此,在应用于儿童运动的运动免疫学中,除了外部和内部训练负荷外,还需要考虑BM和青春期,它们已被证明是比实际年龄更安全的生物标志物,可用于确定儿科运动员的免疫系统行为。
推荐强度分级(SORT):证据B级3级。