Assessment of lung function variability documents airflow limitation in many patients with long covid.

Background: It is estimated that 65 million people worldwide suffer from long covid (LC). Many LC symptoms are also reported by patients with airflow limitation, used to confirm asthma. The primary aim was to detect airflow limitation in LC patients by a methacholine bronchial provocation test (BPT) and if negative, by evaluation of diurnal variability in forced expiratory flow in 1 second (FEV) over a two-weeks' period.

Optimizing care for children with difficult-to-treat and severe asthma through specialist paediatric asthma centres: expert practical experience and advice.

Severe asthma in children carries an unacceptable treatment burden, yet its rarity means clinical experience in treating it is limited, even among specialists. Practical guidance is needed to support clinical decision-making to optimize treatment for children with this condition.This modified Delphi convened 16 paediatric pulmonologists and allergologists from northern Europe, all experienced in treating children with severe asthma.

Unsupervised field-based exercise challenge tests to support the detection of exercise-induced lower airway dysfunction in athletes.

Background: Athletes are at risk for developing exercise-induced lower airway narrowing. The diagnostic assessment of such lower airway dysfunction (LAD) requires an objective bronchial provocation test (BPT).

Objectives: Our primary aim was to assess if unsupervised field-based exercise challenge tests (ECTs) could confirm LAD by using app-based spirometry.

Diagnostic approach to lower airway dysfunction in athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis by a subgroup of the IOC consensus on 'acute respiratory illness in the athlete'.

Objectives: To compare the performance of various diagnostic bronchoprovocation tests (BPT) in the assessment of lower airway dysfunction (LAD) in athletes and inform best clinical practice.

Design: Systematic review with sensitivity and specificity meta-analyses.

Data Sources: PubMed, EBSCOhost and Web of Science (1 January 1990-31 December 2021).

International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on acute respiratory illness in athletes part 1: acute respiratory infections.

Acute illnesses affecting the respiratory tract are common and form a significant component of the work of Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) clinicians. Acute respiratory illness (ARill) can broadly be classified as non-infective ARill and acute respiratory infections (ARinf). The aim of this consensus is to provide the SEM clinician with an overview and practical clinical approach to ARinf in athletes.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on acute respiratory illness in athletes part 2: non-infective acute respiratory illness.

Acute respiratory illness (ARill) is common and threatens the health of athletes. ARill in athletes forms a significant component of the work of Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) clinicians. The aim of this consensus is to provide the SEM clinician with an overview and practical clinical approach to non-infective ARill in athletes.

Screening for Low Energy Availability in Male Athletes: Attempted Validation of LEAM-Q.

A questionnaire-based screening tool for male athletes at risk of low energy availability (LEA) could facilitate both research and clinical practice. The present options rely on proxies for LEA such screening tools for disordered eating, exercise dependence, or those validated in female athlete populations. in which the female-specific sections are excluded.

Prevalence of lower airway dysfunction in athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis by a subgroup of the IOC consensus group on 'acute respiratory illness in the athlete'.

Objective: To report the prevalence of lower airway dysfunction in athletes and highlight risk factors and susceptible groups.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: PubMed, EBSCOhost and Web of Science (1 January 1990 to 31 July 2020).

Dietary Adjustments to Altitude Training in Elite Endurance Athletes; Impact of a Randomized Clinical Trial With Antioxidant-Rich Foods.

Altitude training stresses several physiological and metabolic processes and alters the dietary needs of the athletes. International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s Nutrition Expert Group suggests that athletes should increase intake of energy, carbohydrate, iron, fluid, and antioxidant-rich foods while training at altitude. We investigated whether athletes adjust their dietary intake according to the IOC's altitude-specific dietary recommendations, and whether an in-between meal intervention with antioxidant-rich foods altered the athletes' dietary composition and nutrition-related blood parameters (mineral, vitamin, carotenoid, and hormone concentrations).

Nutrition and Altitude: Strategies to Enhance Adaptation, Improve Performance and Maintain Health: A Narrative Review.

Training at low to moderate altitudes (~ 1600-2400 m) is a common approach used by endurance athletes to provide a distinctive environmental stressor to augment training stimulus in the anticipation of increasing subsequent altitude- and sea-level-based performance. Despite some scientific progress being made on the impact of various nutrition-related changes in physiology and associated interventions at mountaineering altitudes (> 3000 m), the impact of nutrition and/or supplements on further optimization of these hypoxic adaptations at low-moderate altitudes is only an emerging topic. Within this narrative review we have highlighted six major themes involving nutrition: altered energy availability, iron, carbohydrate, hydration, antioxidant requirements and various performance supplements.

Effects of antioxidant-rich foods on altitude-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in elite endurance athletes: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Various altitude training regimes, systematically used to improve oxygen carrying capacity and sports performance, have been associated with increased oxidative stress and inflammation. We investigated whether increased intake of common antioxidant-rich foods attenuates these processes.

Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 31 elite endurance athletes (23 ± 5 years), ingested antioxidant-rich foods (n = 16), (> doubling their usual intake), or eucaloric control foods (n = 15) during a 3-week altitude training camp (2320 m).

The Construct Validity of the CODA and Repeated Sprint Ability Tests in Football Referees.

As of 2017, the international football federation introduced the change of direction ability test (CODA) and the 5×30 m sprint test for assistant referees (ARs) and continued the 6×40 m sprint test for field referees (FRs) as mandatory tests. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between performance in these tests and running performance during matches at the top level in Norway. The study included 9 FRs refereeing 21 matches and 19 ARs observed 53 times by a local positioning system at three stadiums during the 2016 season.

Antioxidant-rich foods and response to altitude training: A randomized controlled trial in elite endurance athletes.

High doses of isolated antioxidant supplements such as vitamin C and E have demonstrated the potential to blunt cellular adaptations to training. It is, however, unknown whether intake of high doses of antioxidants from foods has similar effects. Hence, the aim of the study was to investigate whether intake of antioxidant-rich foods affects adaptations to altitude training in elite athletes.