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Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 08:38:05 +0500
From: Pete Lundy <sterling@netusa1.net>
To: Jim Kirkwood <kirkwood@cs.bsu.edu>
Jim,
I found this on the internet and thought you may be useful to others in the
Endurateam Club. I have some other articles. If you think this would be
useful for the newsletter or web site let me know and I'll send you some more.
Pete Lundy
Pete,
I find it interesting. As I age I become more susceptible to pollen, dust, smoke,
etc. I find myself coughing a lot. My wife worries. (And she's the smoker!) I
put it to having "finely tuned" lungs which, like my body, when it is in top shape
it is also on the brink of disaster.
PS: If anybody wants to continue this discussion, contact Pete. If enough people want to talk about any issue like this, we can get a "chat page" going. So far, Pete's the only one who has responded to the web page.
Jim Kirkwood
"NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Long-distance runners have a higher
risk of developing asthma compared with speed and power athletes
-- such as sprinters, pole vaulters, and javelin throwers, say
Finnish researchers."
Dr. Ilkka J. Helenius looked at
213 elite track and field athletes to determine the prevalence of
asthma in the three groups.
"The researchers found that 17% of distance runners had
physician-diagnosed asthma, compared with 8% of speed and power
athletes, and 3% of controls."
They noted that long distance runners used more anti-asthma medicine and reported coughs and wheeze brought on by exercise more than the power athletes. Other factors such as age, sex, family history were counted out as causes. Interestingly, the researchers doubted that it was a matter of asthmatic-prone people taking up the sport of long-distance running. In fact, they say it is unlikely that those people would choose sports at all, especially long-distance running.
The Reuters article quotes the researchers:
"'Athletes who train hard, particularly long-distance
runners, are frequently exposed to factors such as cold air and
aeroallergens which are known to exacerbate
bronchoconstriction,' explain the researchers. 'Our findings
suggest an association between the risk of asthma and the
competitive event undertaken by elite track and field
athletes.'"
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