The Successfull Completion of the Oslo Marathon by a Patient With Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract

Metabolic consequences of prolonged, severe exercise were investigated in a well trained 16-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis (CF) who completed the Oslo Marathon (42 195 m). His CF was diagnosed 6 years earlier. He had minimal radiological lung changes and a maximal oxygen uptake of 63.0 ml/kg/min. Several blood, urine and lung function parameters as well as body weight, fluid intake and rectal temperature were measured. None of the findings differed from those reported in healthy marathoners. Interestingly, no changes were found in the serum concentrations of electrolytes.

Physical Exercise for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis: A Review

“…The most likely explanation of the improved pulmonary function tests following exercise was that the activity improved the clearance of mucus from the lungs. Similar effects have been seen in a CF boy with advanced lung disease following prolonged running, while another CF boy with minor changes in his lungs and minimal mucus production had a transient decrease in FVC and FEy1 in response to severe, prolonged running (107), as expected in normals. Whether lung drainage is more effective during running than during other types of exercise is not known.…”

“…The serum salt concentrations decreased slightly to the lower range of normal values in three adolescent boys with CF who completed the New York Marathon 1984 in warm environments (28 C/95%-100% humidity) (118). During the other races, no signs or symptoms of salt depletion occurred (107,109,119), even if the patients added no salt during the runs.…”

“…Studies from Sport Activities Cystic fibrosis has traditionally not been combined with sports, especially not with vigorous, prolonged endurance competitions. Therefore, there were both interest and scepticism when the first CF patient participated in the Oslo Marathon 1982 (107). Since then, four of our CF patients have completed all of their totally eleven marathon races.…”

Long‐term Effects of Physical Exercise on Working Capacity and Pulmonary Function in Cystic Fibrosis

“…Physical training can improve physical fitness and lung function in patients with cystic fibrosis (1)(2)(3)(4) and clear mucus from the lungs (1,3,5). When physical training is stopped, the effects are soon lost (1,3).…”

Cystic Fibrosis and Physical Activity: An Introduction

“…Other exercise programs -such as swimming and canoeing (11), running (16), or inspiratory muscle training (2) -have indicated that regular exercise is as good as any specific muscle training for sustained ventilatory capacity. In their earlier studies, the Norwegian authors demonstrated that V02 max for 11-year-old CF patients was fairly well related to the habitudinal physical activity of the children (24) and that a CF boy could run marathon without any detrimental effects (25). Even if all these studies are encouraging, there are also studies which show that CF patients have difficulties with physical exercise.…”