Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the exercise challenge test in a cold environment, and a neutral environment, along with confirming the diagnosis of exercise induced asthma in athletes who had been previously diagnosed with exercise induced asthma. Ten subjects performed two separate exercise challenge tests (ECT's) on a treadmill, one in a neutral environment and the other in a cold environment, and they also performed one methacholine challenge test. The protocol used for the ECT's were designed to have the subjects perform at steady state heart rate at 8090% of their predicted maximum heart rate for 5-8 minutes. After each of the 3 tests, spirometry values of FEV,, FEF25-,5%, and PEF were collected. When all 3 of the spirometry values decreased 20% or greater from the pretest to posttest, the test was considered positive and the sensitivity and the specificity for the normal environment ECT was 50% and 100% respectively. The cold ECT reported a sensitivity and specificity of 44% and 100% respectively. When only 2 of the 3 spirometry values decreased 20% or greater from pretest to posttest, the test was considered positive and the normal environment ECT sensitivity increased to 62.5%, while the cold ECT sensitivity increased to 75%. In conclusion, a majority of athletes (approximately 70-80%) can be diagnosed correctly through the ECT, but caution must be taken when using the ECT as the only test to diagnosis exercise induced asthma.