Abstract

Exercise induced bronchospasm is a condition in which vigorous physical activity triggers acute airway narrowing in individuals with increased airway responsiveness. It occurs frequently in children and young adults who participate in sports at different activity levels. The prevalance of EIA is 3-11% in otherwise healthy population without chronic asthma and 40-90% in individuals with chronic asthma. In athletes it is higher than healthy population and varies between 10% and 50% because of the type and environmental conditions of performed sport and criteria employed for diagnosis. Clinically the symptoms begin immediately after exercise and reach peak levels approximately at 8th-15th minutes. Many factors determine the severity of exercise induced bronchospasm: in addition to the physical fitness level and underlying airway responsiveness, the magnitude of ventilation during exercise and the temperature of air. Because triggering the refractory process, a 15 to 30 minute warm-up period is recommended before a vigorous exercise starts. Most patients respond well to pre-exercise treatment with an inhaled rapid-acting b−agonist. Some patients require additional therapy such as pre-exercise inhaled cromolyn, daily inhaled steroids, salmeterol, leukotriene modifiers, or other agents.