Bronchial asthma in servicemen--a personal view

This paper is a review of 59 serving male officers and soldiers with bronchial asthma who attended the Chest Clinic at the Cambridge Military Hospital during a defined period of time and who had been under the care of the author for periods of up to six years. The patterns of presentation, management, progress and outcome are described. Exercise induced asthma is seen as the biggest problem for servicemen often with otherwise mild asthma, and there is evidence that potential recruits are still not being adequately assessed. In younger men, exercise associated disability is an early symptom, but older individuals tend to divide into one group with early exercise related problems and another who remain able to exercise at least for a time. Response to prophylactic therapy is good, but it is often difficult to eliminate exercise induced wheeze in military training and relapse is common when prophylaxis is withdrawn. The effect of this on medical category is described and some of the implications are discussed.