You are here

  • Home
  • Online First
  • International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on acute respiratory illness in athletes part 1: acute respiratory infections

Article Text

Article menu

other Versions

Download PDFPDF
Consensus statement
International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statement on acute respiratory illness in athletes part 1: acute respiratory infections
  1. Martin Schwellnus1,2,
  2. Paolo Emilio Adami3,
  3. Valerie Bougault4,
  4. Richard Budgett5,
  5. Hege Havstad Clemm6,7,
  6. Wayne Derman2,8,
  7. Uğur Erdener5,
  8. Ken Fitch9,
  9. James H Hull10,11,
  10. Cameron McIntosh12,
  11. Tim Meyer13,
  12. Lars Pedersen14,
  13. David B Pyne15,
  14. Tonje Reier-Nilsen16,17,
  15. Wolfgang Schobersberger18,
  16. Yorck Olaf Schumacher19,
  17. Nicola Sewry1,2,
  18. Torbjørn Soligard5,
  19. Maarit Valtonen20,
  20. Nick Webborn21,
  21. Lars Engebretsen5,17
  1. 1Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
  2. 2International Olympic Committee Research Centre, Pretoria, South Africa
  3. 3Health and Science Department, World Athletics, Monaco, Monaco Principality
  4. 4Laboratoire Motricité Humaine Expertise Sport Santé, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
  5. 5Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland
  6. 6Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
  7. 7Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  8. 8Institute of Sport and Exercise Medicine (ISEM), Department of Sport Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
  9. 9School of Human Science; Sports, Exercise and Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  10. 10Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
  11. 11Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH), University College London (UCL), London, UK
  12. 12Edge Day Hospital, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
  13. 13Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrucken, Germany
  14. 14Department of Respiratory Medicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
  15. 15Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
  16. 16The Norwegian Olympic Sports Centre, Oslo, Norway
  17. 17Trauma Research Center, Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
  18. 18Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism (ISAG), University Hospital – Tirol Kliniken Innsbruck and Private University UMIT Tirol, Hall, Austria
  19. 19Sports Medicine, Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar
  20. 20Research Center for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, Finland
  21. 21Centre for Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor Martin Schwellnus, Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute, University of Pretoria Faculty of Health Sciences, Pretoria 0084, South Africa; mschwell{at}iafrica.com

Abstract

Acute illnesses affecting the respiratory tract are common and form a significant component of the work of Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) clinicians. Acute respiratory illness (ARill) can broadly be classified as non-infective ARill and acute respiratory infections (ARinf). The aim of this consensus is to provide the SEM clinician with an overview and practical clinical approach to ARinf in athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical and Scientific Commission appointed an international consensus group to review ARill (non-infective ARill and ARinf) in athletes. Six subgroups of the IOC Consensus group were initially established to review the following key areas of ARill in athletes: (1) epidemiology/risk factors for ARill, (2) ARinf, (3) non-infective ARill including ARill due to environmental exposure, (4) acute asthma and related conditions, (5) effects of ARill on exercise/sports performance, medical complications/return-to-sport and (6) acute nasal/vocal cord dysfunction presenting as ARill. Several systematic and narrative reviews were conducted by IOC consensus subgroups, and these then formed the basis of sections in the consensus documents. Drafting and internal review of sections were allocated to ‘core’ members of the consensus group, and an advanced draft of the consensus document was discussed during a meeting of the main consensus core group in Lausanne, Switzerland on 11 to 12 October 2021. Final edits were completed after the meeting. This consensus document (part 1) focusses on ARinf, which accounts for the majority of ARill in athletes. The first section of this consensus proposes a set of definitions and classifications of ARinf in athletes to standardise future data collection and reporting. The remainder of the consensus paper examines a wide range of clinical considerations related to ARinf in athletes: epidemiology, risk factors, pathology/pathophysiology, clinical presentation and diagnosis, management, prevention, medical considerations, risks of infection during exercise, effects of infection on exercise/sports performance and return-to-sport guidelines.

  • IOC
  • Consensus
  • Respiratory System

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-105759

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Twitter @paolo_emilio, @VBougault, @wderman, @NIL don't use twitter, @TSoligard, @SportswiseUK

    • Contributors All authors contributed to the initial draft and final version of the paper. All authors confirmed the final version to be published.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared except for the following: RB who works as Director for the IOC Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland. LE who works as Head of Scientific Activities for the IOC Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland. UE who is the Chair of the Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland. TS who works as Scientific Manager for the IOC Medical and Scientific Department, International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.