Acute respiratory infections hamper training and competition in cross-country skiers, especially in those with asthma

Rikhard Mäki-Heikkilä; Jussi Karjalainen; Jari Parkkari; Heini Huhtala; Maarit Valtonen; Lauri Lehtimäki

doi:10.1080/22423982.2023.2223359

Acute respiratory infections hamper training and competition in cross-country skiers, especially in those with asthma

Int J Circumpolar Health. 2023 Dec;82(1):2223359. doi: 10.1080/22423982.2023.2223359.

Authors

Rikhard Mäki-Heikkilä¹, Jussi Karjalainen^{1

2}, Jari Parkkari^{3

4

5}, Heini Huhtala⁶, Maarit Valtonen⁷, Lauri Lehtimäki^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
² Allergy Centre, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
³ Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine, UKK Institute, Tampere, Finland.
⁴ Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
⁵ Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
⁶ Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
⁷ Finnish Institute of High Performance Sport KIHU, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Abstract

Acute respiratory infections (ARinf) are one of the leading causes that prevent athletes from training and competing. The aim of this study was to investigate the burden of ARinfs during one season among cross-country skiers. All Finnish cross-country skiers enrolled in the largest national competitions in winter 2019 (n = 1282) were sent a postal questionnaire. A higher proportion of skiers with than without asthma had to refrain from competitions because of ARinf (76.9% vs. 62.2%, p = 0.011) but there was no significant difference in refraining from training (91.2% vs. 83.8%, p = 0.084). In skiers with asthma, the median duration of a single ARinf episode was longer (5.0 days, IQR 3.8-6.8 vs. 4.0 days, IQR 3.0-6.7, p = 0.017), and they had more days of absence because of ARinf throughout the season (median 15 days (IQR 8-28) vs. 10 days (IQR 6-18), p = 0.006) in comparison to non-asthmatics. However, many of the skiers either trained (54.4%) or competed (22.5%) during an ARinf.

Keywords: endurance sports; winter sports.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Asthma*
Athletes
Humans
Respiratory Tract Infections*
Seasons

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by the Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation, Foundation of the Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Väinö and Laina Kivi Foundation, Ida Montin Foundation, Urheiluopistosäätiö, Allergy Research Foundation and the Research Foundation of the Pulmonary Diseases.The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.