The effects of regular aerobic exercise on physical capacity and pulmonary function testing in asthmatic children

ABSTRACTThe effects of regular aerobic exercise on physical capacity and pulmonaryfunction testing in asthmatic childrenAsthma is defined as a disease that its prevalence increases since 80?s. It is wellknown that the patients? physical activity is restricted and quality of life is decreaseddue to the physiopathology and psychological changes occur in the illness. Constructionin the airways accompanied with hyperresponsiveness can be caused by allergic agentsas well as non allergic agents including exercise. It is documented that exercise cancause broncospasm and also can be used in the treatment if it is well organized. In ourstudy it is aimed to evaluate the changes in physical capacity and pulmonary functionswith regular aerobic training in asthmatic sedentary children.The study was carried out with 9 asthmatic (8 boys and a girl) and 7 healthy (6boys and a girl) children aged 8 - 12. All asthmatic subjects were known to be sensitiveagainst a specific allergen and have positive methacoline challenge test results.Asthmatic children are followed at least 5 years with a diagnosis of intermittent andmild persistent bronchial asthma by Cukurova University Medical Faculty Departmentof Pediatric Immunology-Allergy. The children involved in the study were performedpulmonary function and cardiopulmonary exercise tests at the beginning, after 18th andthe last training. Aerobic training was carried out for 3 months with an intensity of 40 -60 % their maximal minute ventilation (VE) that was reached in the cardiopulmonaryexercise testing. The training intensities were adjusted according to their VE in everytwo weeks.The unchanged training heart rates, increased running distances and oxygenconsumption (VO2) indicate an increased aerobic performance in both healthy andasthmatic children. A significant relationship was found between measured VO2max(mL/kg/min) in the exercise testing and training distances. Additionally, the pulmonaryfunction testing of asthmatic children improved significantly and reached to healthychildren?s values.Regularly performed aerobic training for 3 months increased aerobicperformance and caused and improvement in the pulmonary functions of the asthmaticchildren. Further studies are needed to evaluate the causes of these improvements.Key words; Child, Asthma, Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, Aerobic training,Pulmonary function testingxi