Asthma deaths during sports: report of a 7-year experience.

Background: Asthma mortality and the mortality of athletes during sports have been described separately in detail in the medical literature. However, asthma has not been reported as a cause of death in competitive athletes.

Objective: The object of this study was to raise the awareness of physicians, coaches, trainers, and parents that children and adults can have fatal asthma exacerbations during and immediately after participating in sports.