More Concerning Asthma and Exercise

Abstract

To the Editor.— In the position paper on Exercise and the Asthmatic Child,1 the Sections on Allergy and Immunology and Diseases of the Chest fail to focus on the primary obstacle facing these children. In most educational settings, the free and easy access to metered dose inhalers is denied. Most school systems "allow" the used of metered dose inhalers but require students to keep their inhalers in a central administrative office or nurse's station. In practice, this means that students are separated from their peers (and thus made to feel "different") and, if they are lucky, after 10 to 15 minutes (too often longer) they are able to rejoin their classmates whose physical activities are already well underway.