Exercise-Induced Asthma

Excerpt

To the Editors: The report by Kraus and colleagues (1) documenting the frequent occurrence of symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux in runners raises the hypothesis that this association might contribute to the pathophysiology of another exercise-related condition, exercise-induced asthma.

Exercise has long been recognized as a stimulus of airway obstruction in patients with asthma. Although several studies have shown the etiologic importance of exercise-induced airway heat and water loss to subsequent bronehoconstriction, these factors may not entirely explain the association. It has been shown that both the intensity and type of exercise may determine the severity of exercise-induced asthma (2). Among the