title: Sport-specific influences on respiratory patterns in elite athletes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine differences in lung function among sports that are of a similar nature and to determine which anthropometric/demographic characteristics correlate with lung volumes and flows.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study involving elite male athletes (N = 150; mean age, 21  4 years) engaging in one of four different sports, classified according to the type and intensity of exercise involved. All athletes underwent full anthropometric assessment and pulmonary function testing (spirometry).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across all age groups and sport types, the elite athletes showed spirometric values that were significantly higher than the reference values. We found that the values for FVC, FEV1, vital capacity, and maximal voluntary ventilation were higher in water polo players than in players of the other sports evaluated (p < 0.001). In addition, PEF was significantly higher in basketball players than in handball players (p < 0.001). Most anthropometric/demographic parameters correlated significantly with the spirometric parameters evaluated. We found that BMI correlated positively with all of the spirometric parameters evaluated (p < 0.001), the strongest of those correlations being between BMI and maximal voluntary ventilation (r = 0.46; p < 0.001). Conversely, the percentage of body fat correlated negatively with all of the spirometric parameters evaluated, correlating most significantly with FEV1 (r = -0.386; p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the type of sport played has a significant impact on the physiological adaptation of the respiratory system. That knowledge is particularly important when athletes present with respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, and wheezing. Because sports medicine physicians use predicted (reference) values for spirometric parameters, the risk that the severity of restrictive disease or airway obstruction will be underestimated might be greater for athletes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Tijana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Durmic
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lazovic
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djelic
authors.affiliation: Dr. Dragisa Misovic-Dedinje Clinical Hospital Center, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Jelena Suzic
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lazic
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Dejan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zikic
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zugic
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dekleva
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mazic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D056352:Athletes; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D013147:Spirometry; D013177:Sports / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D014797:Vital Capacity; D055815:Young Adult