Asthma in elite athletes – a non-Type 2 disease

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> The prevalence of asthma among elite athletes is high. Our aim was to examine the presence of Type 2 inflammation in&nbsp;a cross-section study of elite athletes and thereby characterize asthma in athletes as Type 2 or non-Type 2 inflammatory disease. <b>Methods:</b> Athletes from nine European countries took part in this survey conducted as a joint venture prior to the summer Olympic 2008 in Beijing, China. Athletes were categorized as endurance or non-endurance athletes. All athletes were asked to complete the AQUA questionnaire. In addition, some of the athletes performed clinical measurement relevant for identification of presence of type 2 inflammation such as FeNO, skin prick test, specific IgE and differential blood cell count of total IgE and eosinophils. <b>Results:</b> Based on previous doctors diagnose of asthma and physician diagnose of new cases, asthma was found among 17% of the athletes. The prevalence of asthma among endurance athletes was 59% and athletes with asthma had significantly higher prevalence of allergic rhinitis. Separation of athletes with asthma into non-Type 2 asthma and Type 2 asthma showed that 35% of athletes with asthma could be classified as non-Type 2 asthmatics. Results found that type 2 asthmatic athletes had significantly higher prevalence of allergic rhinitis than non-type 2 asthmatic athletes. Results did not find any correlation between type of sport (endurance vs. non-endurance) and presence of type 2 inflammation in athletes with asthma. <b>Conclusion:</b> Endurance athletes have a high frequency of asthma compared with non-endurance athletes.&nbsp;A large proportion of the athletes with asthma have non-type 2 inflammation,&nbsp;suggesting that their asthma could have been develop in relation to sports.