Studier av lungespesialist Malcolm Sue-Chu ved Trondheim universitetssykehus.

Annenhver skiløper har astmasymptomer, går det fram av Malcolm Sue-Chus undersøkelse av unge elitesatsende langrennskiløpere i Trøndelag og Jämtland. Sue-Chu gjorde dette til tema for sin doktoravhandlingen ved Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet NTNU. Arbeidet har gitt ny viten om effekten av regelmessig hard fysisk anstrengelse i kald, tørr luft på slimhinnen i de nedre luftveier hos friske individer:

"Studies within the past two decades have suggested a dual nature to the relationship between asthma and sport. Of a study population of 118 Norwegian and 53 Swedish skiers, 46% and 51% reported asthma-like symptoms, respectively."

   The whole study in PDF format  

Cross-country skiing with the inhalation of cold dry air represents a significant environmental stress to the airways. This stress leads to a certain degree of inflammation and remodelling of the airways. Even though there was a tendency for more pronounced changes in skiers with asthma-like symptoms and bronchial hyperresponsiveness, these changes were seen in all skiers with no clear difference in those with and without “clinical ski asthma”, compared to controls.

The inflammatory condition in competitive skiers may best be described as cold air- and hyperpnea-induced bronchitis with and without bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine. Our attempt and failure to treat this condition with inhaled corticosteroids indicate that reduction of the environmental stress may be more important than pharmacological intervention.

We believe that the knowledge gained from these ski asthmatics provides a broader understanding not only of “ski asthma”, but also a better understanding of asthma pathophysiology per se.

Lung specialist Malcolm Sue-Chu

  The whole study in PDF format  

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