1 - Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia, Unidade Local de Saúde de São José, Lisboa, Portugal;
2 - Serviço de Imunoalergologia, Unidade Local de Saúde de São José, Lisboa, Portugal;
3 - Centro de ensino e de investigação da Unidade Local de Saúde de Saúde de São José, Lisboa, Portugal
- Póster no American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2024, outubro de 2024, Miami, Estados Unidos da América
Resumo:
Introduction: Respiratory and allergic symptoms frequently impact the performance of young athletes and present a substantial hurdle to their training regimens. Our aim is to create a questionnaire that allows the screening of respiratory and allergic symptoms in young athletes.
Methods: The authors propose a questionnaire for athletes in pediatric age consisted of a combination of the Allergy Questionnaire for Athletes (AQUA) and Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) questionnaires. “Athletes” were defined as individuals undertaking regular participation in 4 hours or more of exercise per week in a sports competition club. Exclusion criteria were: age less than 12 or more than 18 years, and incomplete data in the questionnaire. A total of 290 athletes completed the survey and were enrolled in the study.
Results: The athletes were predominantly male (63.1%) with a median age of 15.2 ± 1.7 years. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) were reported recurrent in 71 participants and recurrent nasal symptoms were present in 32.8%. More than 15% of the athletes missed training more than 3 times a year due to URTI. The majority of athletes with recurrent URTI reported that infections were more common during periods of excessive training (76.1%). At least one allergic disease was diagnosed in 95 athletes. In the AQUA questionnaire, 17.9% (n = 52) of athletes reported dyspnea when exercising.
Conclusions: AQUA plus NOSE questionnaires should be used routinely for screening respiratory symptoms in young athletes.
Palavras Chave: alergia e desporto, asma, rinite