Allergies and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in young soccer players: A screening strategy

Abstract

Introduction: Allergies and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) are highly prevalent in endurance sport athletes. Few data are currently available on sports qualified as non-endurance sport, supposed to provoke less airway disorders. Aims: We aimed to verify whether an easily implementable screening strategy based on atopy, the report of exercise-induced respiratory symptoms and the medical history of asthma, allows to detect the soccer players at risk of EIB. Methods: Soccer players from the Lille Olympic Sporting Club formation team from years 2012 and 2013 (n=85; age: 20 ± 4 years) were asked to participate. Allergy was determined by skin prick tests (SPT) on Saturday mornings. The eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea challenge (EVH) to detect EIB was proposed to players who came the first year only (n=51). The European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) and Allergy Questionnaire for Athletes (AQUA) were also auto-administered. Results: Among those who performed EVH, two players had a previous diagnosis of exercise-induced asthma, and one complained of exercise-induced breathlessness. Forty-nine percent of players had atopy, 38% reported allergic diseases, 4% had an airway obstruction at rest and 7% had EIB. The sensitization to at least 5 allergens, and the report of disturbing exercise-induced respiratory symptoms with or without asthma, are both predictors of EIB (adjusted r²= 0,45; p Conclusions: The implementation of a screening strategy for EIB based on current exercise-induced symptoms with or without a physician diagnosed-asthma, a spirometry and the realisation of a SPT by all the soccer players is an easy measure to take to identify those at risk of EIB.