Acute respiratory infections hamper training and competition in cross-country skiers, especially in those with asthma

Figures & data

Table 1. Number and proportion of cross-country skiers who reported refraining from training and competing because of acute respiratory infections at least once, and who reported training or competing during acute respiratory infections at least once during the 2018/2019 season. The results were grouped by current asthma.

	Response	“Yes” in all skiers		“Yes” in skiers with asthma		“Yes” in skiers without asthma
	n	n	%	n	%	n	%	p*
Refrained at least once from
training because of ARinf	351	301	85.8	83	91.2	218	83.8	0.084
competition due ARinf	350	231	66.0	70	76.9	161	62.2	0.011
During ARinf at least once
training	309	168	54.4	44	58.7	124	53.0	0.391
competing	351	79	22.5	25	27.5	54	20.8	0.188

*p-value between skier with and without asthma.

Table 2. Subject characteristics, training volume, prevalence of asthma, use of asthma medication and asthma control in cross-country skiers divided by performance level according to FIS points.

	Refrained from training due to ARinf			Refrained from competition due to ARinf
	n	%	p	n	%	p
Male (147)	120	81.6		100	68.0
Female (204)	181	88.7	0.061	131	64.5	0.496
Under 16 years of age (130)	108	83.1		85	65.4
Over 16 years of age (221)	190	86.0	0.464	143	64.7	0.898
FIS points range (points)
The best quartile (0–120.54)	37	90.2		30	73.2
2^nd quartile (120.25–185.13)	35	85.4		28	68.3
3^rd quartile (185.14–247.52)	33	80.5		22	53.7
4^th quartile (247.53–999)	35	87.5	0.632	27	67.5	0.280
Weekly training (hours)
1^st quartile (12.5–25.0)	75	85.2		61	69.3
2^nd quartile (10–12.5)	74	84.1		50	56.8
3^rd quartile (8.0–10.0)	78	88.6		58	65.9
4^th quartile (1.9–8.0)	74	85.1	0.837	62	72.1	0.160

Figure 1. Days of absence from training because of ARinf in cross-country skiers as grouped by asthma status (median 15 days (IQR 8–28) in those with asthma vs. 10 days (IQR 6–18) in those without asthma, p = 0.006).