Competitive swimmers with allergic asthma show a mixed type of airway inflammation: Fig. 1—

Abstract

To the Editors: Elite swimmers are at increased risk of asthma 1. This has been attributed to airway inflammation and increased airway responsiveness induced by high-intensity long-term exercise and repeated exposure to the chlorine-rich atmosphere in swimming pools during training and competition 2, 3. Recently, increased levels of leukotriene (LT)B4 in exhaled breath condensate and normal exhaled nitric oxide fraction ( F eNO) levels have been reported in five elite swimmers, suggesting possible underlying neutrophilic airway inflammation 4. Previous analysis of induced sputum in nonasthmatic elite swimmers showed increased proportion of eosinophils and neutrophils compared with healthy controls 3. We aimed to characterise the airway inflammation in competitive asthmatic swimmers. Athletes from the FC Porto main swimming team and 20 nonathlete asthmatics were recruited; participants gave informed consent. Subjects were classified by their asthma and training status as asthmatic swimmers (n = 6, two female, aged 17±2 yrs, competing 8±3 yrs, training 16±4 h·week−1), asthmatics (n = 20, eight female, aged 14±3 yrs) and swimmers (n = 20, six female, aged 17±2 yrs, competing 8±3 yrs, training 17±3 h·week−1). All asthmatics and nine (45%) of the swimmers were atopic according …