Prevalence and characteristics of asthma in the aquatic disciplines

Margo Mountjoy , Ken Fitch , Louis-Philippe Boulet , Valérie Bougault (1) , Willem van Mechelen , Evert Verhagen

1 EA4488 - Activité Physique, Muscle, Santé

Despite the health benefits of swimming as a form of exercise, evidence exists that both the swimming pool environment and endurance exercise are etiologic factors in the development of asthma. The prevalence of asthma in swimmers is high compared with that in participants in other Olympic sport disciplines. There are no publications comparing the prevalence of asthma in the 5 aquatic disciplines.

Mots clés: Asthma; Olympic Games; airway hyperresponsiveness; diving; endurance training; exercise-induced bronchoconstriction; swimming; synchronized swimming; water polo

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Margo Mountjoy, Ken Fitch, Louis-Philippe Boulet, Valérie Bougault, Willem van Mechelen, et al.. Prevalence and characteristics of asthma in the aquatic disciplines. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2015, 136 (3), pp.588 - 594. ⟨10.1016/j.jaci.2015.01.041⟩. ⟨hal-01758332⟩