History of EIB
In the second century CE Greek physician Aretaeus the Cappadocian wrote: “If from running, and exercise, and labor of any kind a difficulty of breathing follows it is termed asthma”. This may be the earliest known written report of EIB2. More recent information regarding EIB was published in 1860, in a book entitled “On Asthma: its pathology and treatment” published by Salter3. Salter described various types of asthma with predisposing factors, dividing the disease into two types: “spasmodic” (i.e., idiopathic, “uncomplicated”) and “organic” (“complicated”). According to the author, “as exercise level increases, a rapid flow of fresh and cold air through the bronchi triggers organic asthma symptoms”.
The quantitative description of bronchospasm during exercise was presented in the 1960s. In certain patients with asthma, researchers observed a decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) during and after exercise, describing this phenomenon asexercise-induced asthma (EIA)4. In later years the term exercise-induced bronchospasm was used and finally become exercise-induced bronchoconstriction5.