Comparing the effect of physical activity on pulmonary function of Kerman s professional endurance runners and non-athletes

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1 International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences 2013 Available online at ISSN X / Vol, 5 (12): Science Explorer Publications Comparing the effect of physical activity on pulmonary function of Kerman s professional endurance runners and non-athletes Leili Zeiaadini * ¹, Hamid Marefati ², Koroush Ghraman Tabrizi ³ 1. Student MA Sports Physiology, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Kerman, Iran. 2. PHD. Sports Physiology, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran 3. PHD. Sports Management, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran *Corresponding Author lzeiaadini@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Exercise-induced bronchospasm is more evident in the athletes of endurance sports and other sports which need minute ventilation. Seeing the lack of researches in this arena within Iran, we decided to conduct a study on the frequency of exercise-induced asthma in Kerman professional endurance runners in order to develop the background necessary to later studies. To do so, 25 professional endurance runners (22.6 ± 5.5 years) were chosen intentionally and voluntarily, 25 nonathletes were also chosen randomly and homogeneously along the runners group. All subjects first filled the standard questionnaire of exercise asthma, then the pulmonary function test was done on both groups before, immediately after, and 10 minutes after the Cooper test in order to investigate the lung volumes. The obtained data were then analyzed using SPSS 19 through independent T-test. Results showed that the rate of exercise asthma was 20 % in the athletes group and 16 % in the non-athletes one. The results of the exercise challenge, which is a 15 % or more decrease in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), indicated that 16 % of the runners and 12 % of the non- athletes were suffering from exercise asthma. The lung volumes FEV1 and FVC (forced vital capacity) decreased in both groups. The decrease was more evident in runners when compared before and after the exercise, this decrease was not significant, however. Keywords: Exercise Induced Bronchospasm; Pulmonary Function Test; Respiratory Symptoms INTRODUCTION When exercising, metabolic activities increase and therefore both the ventilation and the cardiac systems should work harder in order to provide an increased amount of simultaneous ventilation and cardiac output. To do so, an increase in the number of breaths, number of heart beats per minute, tidal volume (TV) and stroke volume (SV) is necessary (Attarzadeh and et al,2006). At times, the same exercising can be a cause to allergic bronchial, inflammation of the airways, bronchospasm (EIB), and asthma. An exercise-induced asthma is revealed through respiratory impairments at the time of doing aerobic exercises. Various studies have reported high rates of asthma among endurance athletes (Ilkka and et al, 1997), This is even more evident with the winter sports (Krafczyk and Asplund, 2011). A great number of athletes have for the first time, shown respiratory signs like those of asthma during exercises (Bonsignore and et al,2003; Parson and et al,2007). The rate of exercise-induced bronchospasm is 5% - 20 % in healthy people, 30% - 70% in endurance athletes, and 90 % in those with asthma (Holzer and Brukner,2004; Ahad and et al, 2004). The intensity and duration of exercise are also very important factors. Long continuous aerobic sports, such as track and field, skiing, alpinism, and cycling, which need minute ventilation, are among the sports which cause this disorder; other intermittent anaerobic sports are less reported to be the cause of EIB (Perderson and et al,2011; Krafczyk and Asplund, 2011). Environmental factors such as cold dry weather, low humidity, polluted inclement weather, pollen, simultaneous respiratory-tract infections, etc, are reported to be significant factors in making bronchospasm happen. The rates of exercise-induced bronchospasm are higher in healthy people who exercise in cold dry weather intensively and for a long time (Ahad and et al, 2004; Kenneth and et al,2002; Holzer and Brukner,2004; Anderson and Kippelen, 2008). It is reported that the rates of exerciseinduced asthma are higher (17 %) in endurance runners when compared with the speed runners (8 %) (Ilkka and et

2 al, 1997). In several similar studies it is shown that there is a significant decrease in FEV1, FVC, and PEF among distance runners due to their type of exercise(rnata and et al, 2012; Bonsignore and et al,2003). Asthma is a reversible inflammatory disease which, if diagnosed on time, can be controlled and cured and therefore it will not turn into a chronic stable one. Hence, diagnosing the EIB is of high importance (David and et al,2000; Ahad and et al, 2004). There has been a serious lack of studies which specifically deal with exercise-induced asthma in Iran endurance runners, the studies are mostly about the influences of cold dry weather on lung inflammation; therefore we carried out a study specifically on the diagnosis of exercise-induced asthma and the identification of lung volumes in endurance runners. Subjects 30 professional endurance runners with mean age of 22.6 ± 5.5, mean height of 1.68 ± 6.8, mean weight of ± 6.3, mean BMI of ± 4.79, and mean sporting years of 9.4 ± 3.6 were chosen intentionally and voluntarily as the empirical, and 30 other non- athletes with mean age of ± 5.8, mean height of 1.69 ± 9.2, mean weight of 63 ± 8.5, and mean BMI of ± 3.5 were chosen randomly and homogenously as the control group (Table 1). The non- athletes had no particular exercise apart from their daily activities. Both groups had consented to research collaboration. Subjects Athlete Non-athlete Table 1. Characteristics of athletes and non-athletes subjects. N Age Height Weight 25(50%) 22.6± ± ±6.3 25(50%) 23.00± ± ±8.5 BMI 21.3± ±3.5 Portocol Questionnaire All studied subjects completed a standard questionnaire for EIB symptoms including: wheezing or coughing at rest and during exercise, chest tightness, dyspnea, previously diagnosed asthma and allergy, use of anti- asthmatics medication and family history of asthma. This standard questionnaire in Farsi language which was developed according to the previous studies (Boskabady and Fasihfar,2003; Boskabady and Azdaki,2005). Spirometric measurements Standard pulmonary function tests (PFT) were performed in the morning, using a calibrated protabl spirometer (COSMED I Italy). Before pulmonary function testing, the required manoeuvre was demonstrated by the operator, and subjects were encouraged and supervised throughout test performance. Pulmonary function testing was performed using the acceptability standards outline by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) with subjects in a standing position and using nose clips. Pulmonary function tests were performed three times for each subject and the best technique was accepted. The highest level for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), were taken independently from the three curves. Subjects were informed to avoid consumption of caffeine beverages, theophylline or ß-agonist inhalers, 12 hours before PFT measurement. Pulmonary function test were measured before, immediately and 10 min after the end of the exercise test for each subject. Exercise protocol Each subject performed the physical fitness test until exhaustion. The maximal distance running in 12 min (Couper test) assesses the level of physical fitness, with high effort and enough motivation of each subject till reaching 70-80% MHR(maximum heart rate) in the morning. All exercise tests measured in May 2012 with air ambient temperature of 23±2C and relative humidity of (RH) of 17±1%. Statistical analysis All values are expressed as mean ±SD (Table 2). To compare the results of PFT values between athletes and nonathletes subjects, independent t test were used respectively. P value less than 0.05 was the criterion for statistical significance. All analyses were performed with SPSS software (version 19,SPSS Inc. USA). 1553

3 Table 2. The values of Mean, Standard deviation and P in comparison of PFT values between athlete and non-athlete subjects. Groups Time (min) FVC FEV1 Mean ± SD P Mean ± SD P Athlete Base line 3.99± ± ± ± ± ± Non-athlete Base line 3.92± ± ± ± ± ± RESULTS Exercise challenge Five athletes (20%) and three non-athletes (12%) showed respiratory symptoms following exercise while twenty athletes (80%) and twenty two non-athletes (88%) did not show any symptom. The symptomatic subjects showed coughing, chest tightness and dyspnea during or after exercise. In addition, all of symptomatic subjects had a history of sinusitis and allergy. Pulmonary function tests There was not any significant difference in PFT values between athletes and non-athletes subjects at rest (before exercise) (Figure 1). Also immediately after exercise, all PFT values were insignificantly lower in athletes compared to non-athletes subjects. (P>0.05). There were no significant reduction in PEF values in all time intervals after exercise in both groups. Four subjects out of twenty five (16%) and three out of twenty five non-athletes subjects (12%) showed at least 15% persistent decrease in FEV1 after exercise. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Investigating the cardio-respiratory reactions through non-invasive methods in order to screen the exercise-induced asthma has been among the main purposes of the present study. The results of the standard questionnaire of exercise-induced asthma indicated that the rate of EIB is 20 % among endurance runners, which is consistent with Ilkka (1997) who reported the rate of EIB to be 17 % in endurance runners and 7 % percent in the speed ones. Here, exercise challenge, which is a 15 % or more decrease in FEV1, is of higher accuracy; according to exercise challenge it was indicated that the rate of EIB is 16 % among endurance runners. This is consistent with Lumme (2003), Kukafka (1998), and Mehmet (2004) who believed that the rate of EIB is 10_15 % within sportsmen of different fields. Kon and Choi (2002) proved that temperature and humidity are two important factors in EIB, the latter even more important. The results showed that there is no significant difference in the lung volumes FEV1 and FVC between endurance runners and non-athletes, however a slight decrease was observed in the mentioned volumes among the runners when compared with the baseline. This shows that the rate of EIB is not high among Kerman professional endurance runners. Most of the previous studies have identified exercise in cold dry weather as the most important factor in EIB of professional sportsmen: inhalation of cold weather during exercise would probably end in the dryness and mucus hyper-osmolarity of airways, which in turn would cause bronchospasm and the narrowing of the airways. Kukafka (1998) and Randolph (2009) have shown through several experiments that inhalation of warm weather has a weaker influence on bronchospasm when compared with cold weather. Generally, one can claim that the normal rate of exercise-induced asthma in Kerman professional endurance runners is not only due to the warm weather but also due to the athletes ' high ventilation threshold which is because of their endurance trainings. Physiological adaptabilities that have been made through regular training in this weather has end up in development of cardio-respiratory capacity and endurance, lower rates of bronchospasm and allergy, and higher pulmonary function. Finally, the results show that the rate of EIB among Kerman professional endurance runners is not at a high level. 1554

4 FVC(L) FEV1(L/S) Intl. Res. J. Appl. Basic. Sci. Vol., 5 (12), , baseline 0 10 athlete non-athlete baseline 0 10 athlete non-athlete Figure 1. PFT values (Mean ± SD) before (baseline) immediately, 10 min after exercise in athlete and non-athlete subjects. FVC: forced vital capacity, FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s. Statistical change in post exercise PFT values compared to baseline. (P>0.05). REFERENCES Ahad A, sandila MP, siddiqui NA Prevalence of exercise induced broncho spasm in national hockey players of Pakistan. 54 (2) : 96-9 Anderson SD, Kippelen P Airway injury as a mechanism for Exercise- Induced Bronchoconstriction in elite athletes.j Allergy Clin Immunol. 122(2): Attarzadeh SR, Hejazi SM, Soltani H The effect of selected aerobic exercise program on pulmonary volumes and capacities of nonathlete male students.international congress on physical education and sport science.feb 21-23, Iran. Bonsignore MR, Morici G, Vignola AM, Riccobono L, Bonanno A, Profita M, Abate P, Scichilone N, Amato G, Bellia V, Bonsignore G Increased airway inflammatory cells in endurance athletes: what do they mean? Clin Exp Allergy. 33(1): Boskabady M, Azdaki N Effect of inhalation technique on the bronchodilatory response to salbutamol inhaler in asthmatic patients. Turkish Respiratory Jornal 6, Boskabady M, Fasihfar M Correlation between symptom score, reversibility of pulmonary function tests and treatment response in asthma. Iran Journal of allergy, Asthma and Immunology 2, David E. Sami L, Bahna sports and asthma

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