1984 American Olympic team about 11% of athletes had asthma or exercise induced bronchoconstriction.' The figures agreed with those of Weiler et al, who found self reported asthma in 12% of football players; basketball players had a low asthma prevalence.29 In a study from Portugal Gomes et al found normal bronchial responsiveness in elite runners.?0 In another study swimmers had a higher prevalence of asthma and bronchial hyperresponsiveness than other athletes and the authors postulated a relation with ambient swimming pool conditions.3' To our knowledge there are no other studies of skiers or other athletes performing exercise at low temperatures. From the few reports available there is no evidence that strenuous training by itself increases the risk of asthma. Strenuous training at low temperatures, however, seems to be pathogenetic for asthma, possibly due to the repeated breathing of large amounts of cold air. The expert technical help of Britt-Marie Sundblad and Wang Zhi-Ping is acknowledged. We thank the department of clinical physiology, Hospital of Ostersund, for spirometry. The study was partly financed by grants from the Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports.

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Objectives-To investigate differing patterns and associations of osteoarthritis of the knee in patients referred to hospital. Methods-Two hundred and fifty two consecutive patients (161 women, 91 men; mean age 70 years, range 34-91 years) referred to hospital with osteoarthritis of the knee underwent clinical, radiographic, and synovial fluid screening. Results-Radiographic changes of osteoarthritis of the knee (definite narrowing with or without osteoarthritic features) were bilateral in 85% of patients. Of 470 knees affected, 277 (59%) were affected in two compartments and 28 (6%) in three compartments. Unilateral and isolated medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis were more common in men. Calcium pyrophosphate crystal deposition was common (synovial fluid identification in 132 (28%) knees; knee chondrocalcinosis in 76 (30%) patients) and associated with disability, bilateral, multicompartmental and severe radiographic osteoarthritis, marked osteophytosis, attrition, and cysts. Multiple clinical nodes (58 (23%) patients) and radiographic polyarticular interphalangeal osteoarthritis (66 (26%)

Objective-To assess the efficacy of a single intra-articular injection of triamcinolone hexacetonide (THA) in knee osteoarthritis (OA) and examine factors which may relate to treatment efficacy. Methods-Eighty four patients with clinical and radiographic evidence ofknee OA were recruited and randomly allocated to receive either THA (20 mg in 1 ml) or placebo (0.9% normal saline, 1 ml).

3-17, respectively); warmth at the knee associated with change in any radiographic feature (odds ratio 2-22; 95% CI