How to detect young athletes at risk of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction?

• Published in: Paediatric respiratory reviews Vol. 44; pp. 40 - 46
• Main Authors: Goossens, Janne, Decaesteker, Tatjana, Jonckheere, Anne-Charlotte, Seys, Sven, Verelst, Sophie, Dupont, Lieven, Bullens, Dominique M.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Adolescent; Asthma, Exercise-Induced - diagnosis; Athletes; Bronchoconstriction; Exercise; Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB); Humans; Screening; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young and Adolescent Athletes; Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB); Screening; Young and Adolescent Athletes
• ISSN: 1526-0542; 1526-0550
• DOI: 10.1016/j.prrv.2021.09.007

•High need to develop routine screening test for EIB in young athletes.•Until now, there is no validated screening test available to increase pre-test probability of a provocation test of EIB.•Key elements for the development of a flow chart to screen for EIB in young athletes are respiratory symptoms, atopic state, exclusion of asthma and airway inflammation/epithelial damage.•New questions arise about who of the young athletes would benefit from such screening test. Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is a prevalent condition in elite athletes caused by transient airway narrowing during or after exercise. Young athletes nowadays start early to perform high level exercise, highlighting the need to screen for EIB in a younger population. The purpose of this review is to evaluate current evidence of pre-tests with high probability to predict a positive provocation test in young and adolescent athletes, aged 12–24 years and thus indicate whether a young athlete is at risk of having EIB. Up to now, there is no validated screening test available to increase the pre-test probability of a provocation test of EIB in young and adolescent athletes. We would recommend that a clinical guideline committee might consider the development of a flow chart to screen for EIB in adolescent athletes. It could be composed of a symptom-based questionnaire focusing on wheezing during exercise, atopic state, reversibility test (to exclude EIB with asthma) and completed with markers in blood/serum. However, more research is necessary.