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.