the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in soccer player children, ages 7 to 16 years

this study represents an attempt to determine the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm among soccer player children. a total of 234 soccer player boys of all soccer schools from shahr-rey enrolled in this study. they did not have any history of a recent or chronic respiratory tract disease, a history of allergic diseases, and history of bronchodilator drugs consumption during the 24 hours prior to the study. pulmonary function test (pft) was performed for each participant before exercise and 6 and 15 minutes after playing soccer. the diagnosis of eib was by a decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (fev1) by at least 10% and in peak expiratory flow rate (pefr) by at least 15% with exercise challenge. if there was reduction in one parameter alone, the participants were considered as prone to eib. considering both fev1 and pefr the prevalence of eib was 2.1% and 18.4% were prone to eib. if fev1 or pefr tests were used as criteria for diagnosis of airway obstruction, the prevalence of eib would be 6% and 15.8%, respectively. there was no significant difference between the post of players, family history of allergic disease and eib in soccer players. this study suggests that at least 2.1% of soccer players will develop bronchospasm even if they do not have any history of asthma and allergy.