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JACI Highlights - April 2006
Anderson et al – Bronchial challenges in athletes applying to inhale a ß2 agonist at the 2004 Summer Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City was the first Olympics to require objective documentation of asthma or exercise-induced bronchoconstriction as a prerequisite for permission to use an inhaler containing a ß2 adrenoceptor agonist (IBA). This policy was developed after a workshop concluded that notifications of intent to use IBAs had increased by more than three times between the Los Angeles Games in 1984 and the Sydney Games in 2000. With the advent of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2000, there has been more focus by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the protection of the health of athletes. In the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Anderson and colleagues report test results of the competitors who submitted for approval to use an IBA at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and on the submission and approval rates relative to the notification rate at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney 2000. Overall 4.2% of the 10,653 athletes who competed in Athens were approved to use an IBA. Compared to the previous Summer Games in Sydney, with a notification rate of 5.7% of 10,672 athletes, there was 19% reduction in applications and 26% reduction in approvals to use an IBA in Athens. This reduction is encouraging because there are health related issues to using asthma drugs. Also, the respiratory symptoms on exercise of elite athletes are similar to those of patients with classical asthma. For this reason many may be prescribed medication on symptoms alone when objective measurement would allow a more specific diagnosis to be made and a healthier outcome to be achieved.
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