Sensitivity and Specificity of Self-Reported Symptoms for Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm Diagnosis in Children

Objective: exercise-induced bronchospasm (eib) is a common condition in elite athletes. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of self-reported eib symptoms in children. methods: in a cross sectional study in 2005, all soccer player boys of 3 football schools of shahr rey a town in the south of tehran, enrolled in this study. all subjects were asked for the presence of four cardinal symptoms of eib (cough, wheeze, shortness of breath, chest pain/discomfort) during and after exercise. self reported symptom-based eib was defined as having at least two out of four symptoms. findings were compared to spirometric criteria as a gold standard test. findings: a total of 371 boys were enrolled in this study. the mean age of children was 11.67 ± 1.53 years (range 7-16 years). according to spirometric findings, 74 (19.9 %) subjects had eib. the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported symptoms for eib diagnosis were 13.0 % and 89.9 %, respectively. conclusion: self-reported symptoms of eib in children can be useful for epidemiological study. our results in iran are comparable with studies in other countries and point to a relatively high prevalence of eib among athlete children.