Studies on athletes show health risks from smog

Polluted air may even affect athletic performance.

In a 2004 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, elite female hockey players who were exposed to pollutants emitted by an ice-resurfacing machine were shown to have small airway dysfunction. Another study, published in the same journal in 2006, found that air particle counts on a college soccer field near a major highway were high enough to possibly cause significant health risks to athletes.

Asthmatics and those with compromised lung and heart function may fare even worse.

In a 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study, 60 adults with mild or moderate asthma walked for two hours on a London street and for two hours through a park; they had significantly higher exposures to fine particles, ultra fine particles and elemental carbon on the street versus the park. Walking on the street also resulted in decreased lung function relative to walking in the park.

Monitoring air quality is something athletic coaches take seriously. Tony Veney, assistant men's track coach at UCLA, says he receives air quality updates regularly from the school's athletic trainers, which helps him determine how best to guide his athletes on smoggy days, especially those with asthma.

"The one thing our sport depends on is air," he says. And when that air is sullied with pollutants, he has no qualms about taking athletes indoors for a workout on the stationary bike or in the weight room. He did that last year when smoke from nearby wildfires proved too much of a hazard. "Sometimes I'll ask the trainer if the air is good enough for at least a warmup, but sometimes I have to cut my losses and not do anything outdoors," Veney says. "If an athlete has a bad asthma attack, he could lose a week of practice."

-- Jeannine Stein