On August 8, 2008, Beijing will welcome the XXIX Olympic Games, and a fourth to a third of the elite athletes from many of the national delegations in the multinational crowd taking part in the Opening Ceremony will have allergic or respiratory disease according to data published for several national delegations at previous Games. Mechanisms for the high prevalence of allergic diseases, includi...

The possibility that sympathoadrenal activity is altered in asthma was examined in eight patients with a history of exercise-induced asthma (EIA), eight matched patients with nonexercise induced asthma (NEIA), and eight matched healthy control subjects. No medication was allowed for at least one week before examination. In a pretrial exercise test diagnosis of EIA was confirmed and each individ...

This editorial comments on the paper of Pedersen et al. focusing, in particular, on the criteria set by the IOC-MC for documenting exercise-induced asthma and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (and therefore permitting the use of beta-2 adrenergic drugs) in athletes participating in the Beijing Olympic Games.