Incidence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in Olympic winter sport athletes

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to determine the incidence of exer cise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) among U.S. Olympic winter sport athletes. M ethods: Subjects included female and male members of the 1998 U.S. Winter O lympic Team from the following sports: biathlon, cross-country ski, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, long-track speedskating, and short-tr ack speedskating. Assessment of EIB was conducted in conjunction with an "a ctual competition" (Olympic Trials, World Team Trials, World Cup Event, U.S . National Championships) or a "simulated competition" (time trial, game), which served as the exercise challenge. Standard spirometry tests were perf ormed preexercise and at 5, 10, and 15 min postexercise. An athlete was con sidered EIB-positive based on a postexercise decrement in FEV1 greater than or equal to 10%. Results: For the seven sports evaluated on the 1998 U.S. Winter Olympic Team, the overall incidence of EIB across all sports and gen ders was 23%. The highest incidence of EIB was found in cross-country skier s, where 50% of the the athletes (female = 57%; male = 43%) were diagnosed with EIB. Across the seven sports evaluated, the prevalence of EIB among th e female and male athletes was 26% and 18%, respectively. Among those indiv iduals found to be EIB-positive were athletes who won a team gold medal, on e individual silver medal, and one individual bronze medal at the Nagano Wi nter Olympics. Conclusions: These data suggest that: 1) EIB is prevalent in several Olympic winter sports and affects nearly one of every four elite w inter sport athletes; 2) the winter sport with the highest incidence of EIB is cross-country skiing; 3) in general, EIB is more prevalent in female ve rsus male elite winter sport athletes; and 4) athletes may compete successf ully at the international level despite having EIB.