Asthma and athletes

Asthma presents special challenges to both the athletes who have it and to their health care provideers. This article briefly reviews the problem of asthma-specially exercise-induced asthma-in the competitive athlete, and then describes treatments that are effective in controlling asthma. Drug-doping regulations are explained, as is the worldwide impact of drug doping on competitive athletes who have asthma. This review concludes with recommendations for competitive athletes and their health care providers regarding how to deal with asthma in this patient population.