Montelukast has no ergogenic effect on cycle ergometry in cold temperature.

Purpose: To examine the effects of a single 10-mg dose of ML on physical performance in EIB- and EIB+ athletes.

Methods: Twenty-four male college ice hockey players performed two 6-min maximal work accumulation bouts on an electronically braked cycle ergometer in subfreezing conditions (-2.5 +/- 0.4 degrees C) 6-8 h after either ML or placebo (PL) to obtain total work accumulated (kJ); subjects were evaluated for EIB after each exercise trial.

Results: Eight (33%) subjects were identified as EIB+ (23.5 +/- 13.35% fall in FEV1); 16 were EIB- (1.8 +/- 3.03% fall in FEV1). ML provided an approximately 50% protection against postexercise fall in FEV1. No significant differences in kJ were found between PL and ML trials for pooled subjects (95.3 +/- 13.69 and 94.8 +/- 13.27 kJ, respectively), EIB- subjects (99.6 +/- 13.26 and 99.0 +/- 11.81 kJ, respectively), or EIB+ subjects (86.8 +/- 10.67 and 86.5 +/- 12.72 kJ, respectively). Total work accumulated for EIB- subjects was significantly greater than for EIB+ subjects for both PL and ML (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: A single 10-mg dose of ML had no ergogenic effect for EIB- and EIB+ subjects performing short-duration high-intensity exercise in subfreezing temperature, supporting the use of ML as EIB prophylaxis during international sport competition.