A cross-sectional survey of participation of asthmatic children in physical activity

Physical exercise has been proven to be beneficial to children with asthma, but the traditional view in China is that asthmatic children should not take part in sports. This study was undertaken to investigate the current status of children with asthma taking part in exercise in China.

One hundred and twenty-three asthmatic children (7-14 years old) who had visited our asthma control center between February 2009 and June 2009 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Each child had a pulmonary function test and his/her health-related quality of life was assessed. The children also finished a questionnaire about their physical activity. As a control group, 109 nonasthmatic children from a primary school were surveyed about their level of activity.

Asthmatic children took part in less exercise than their healthy peers, and 62.6% (77/123) of the children with asthma never reached the criteria of exercise prescription for patients with asthma advised by the American College of Sports Medicine. The asthmatic children were divided into two groups based on the level of activity; compared with the group with a higher physical activity level, more children in the group with lower activity believed that exercise could make asthma worse, more parents and teachers restricted the children's exercise, and fewer doctors approved them participating in exercise. All of the parameters of basic lung function were higher in the group with higher activity level. Moreover, the children with a higher exercise level had a higher score on all parts of the pediatric asthma quality-of-life questionnaire. About 78.5% (96/123) of children ever experienced coughing, chest distress, dyspnea, or gasping during exercise, but 49.6% (61/123) had these symptoms occasionally.

Our study reveals that children with asthma do not have enough exercise in China. The concept that children, parents, teachers and doctors have about exercise for patients with asthma is urgent to be updated. We need to prescribe appropriate exercise for children with asthma.