Children with mild asthma walk lesser distance than no asthmatic children over the same time period

Abstract

Asthmatic children have exercise induced bronchospasm and consequently tend to limit their physical activities. The aim of this study was to verify, using the twelve minute walking test, if children with mild asthma walk the same distance as healthy children, paired by sex and age, and their respiratory and cardiac responses; the objective was also to check the occurrence of exercise induced bronchospasm (EIB). Twenty four children, participated in this study: 12 asthmatic and 12 non-asthmatic. Previous to the test and during the same test (at 3, 6, 9, and 12 minutes) the perception of breathlessness, the respiratory rate, the oxygen saturation, the cardiac rate were measured. Before and after the test were also measured the peak expiratory flow (EPF) and the blood pressure. The present study was approved by the local medical ethics committee. Informed consent was obtained from the parents. Statistical analysis used T Student test and analysis of variance, both with significance level of 5%. Asthmatic children walked less than their controls (p < 0.05) and differed from them, at the end of the test, in the measures of EPF and perception of breathlessness. In other measures, both groups had similar profiles. EIA occurred in 58.3% of the asthmatic children. This study has allowed us to conclude that asthmatic children walked less than their normal controls and that 58.3% of them triggered EIB. This study suggests that asthmatic children can be limiting their physical activity as a means of not triggering EIB; it also suggests that the 12-minute walking test is a simple method, of low cost, not invasive that can be used in the study of the relationship among asthma, EIB and physical activity.