Quality of Life in Young Athletes
Johansson et al. reported that compared to healthy adolescents,
adolescents with EIB have more absences from school and respiratory
symptoms during exercise, factors that may limit their motivation to
improve physical activity31.
Based on the Health-Related Quality of Life Survey (HRQoL), young girls
who suffer from EIB scored lower in both respiratory function tests and
HRQoL when compared to a population of EIB-negative girls. Such a
relationship was not observed in boys. Moreover, girls with confirmed
EIB had more sleep disturbances and the results in anxiety scores were
significantly higher, compared to the healthy
population32. Hallstrand et al. report that HRQoL
results were significantly lower among adolescent athletes with
previously confirmed EIB, mild asthma and co-existing allergic rhinitis.
Furthermore, the symptoms of dyspnea that appeared during exercise had a
significant impact on the HRQoL result. Researchers suggest that proper
treatment can improve the results of the survey and the quality of life
of young people33.
Among the surveyed children and adolescents at the EIB Landmark Survey,
US researchers found a higher prevalence of children avoiding exercises
(31.8%), due to exercise-related symptoms34.
However, when children with asthma symptoms took part in physical
exercise, their quality of life improved. Vahlkvist et al. reported less
physical fitness in newly diagnosed asthmatic adolescents compared to
control subjects. After one year of treatment, control of the disease
and proper treatment both increased physical
activity35.