Study design: Prospective analysis.
Objectives: To investigate the influence of exercise and major competition on infectious episodes in athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI).
Setting: Japan.
Methods: We examined the self-reported infectious episodes of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in athletes with SCI during a 1-month period before the race and 2 weeks after the race. The study included 21 persons with SCI who participated in the 18th Oita International Wheelchair Marathon. Thirteen persons with SCI who did not participate in the race were studied as control subjects.
Results: The number of URTI episodes in marathoners was 0.086+/-0.036/week during the 1-month period before the race and 0.089+/-0.040/week during the 2-week post-race period, whereas that of the controls was 0.139+/-0.046/week during the 1-month period before the race and 0.072+/-0.047/week during the 2-week post-race period. There were no significant differences between before and after the race in marathoners, or between marathoners and controls during each period. However, the number of URTI episodes 2 weeks after the race was significantly higher in subjects who trained more than 65 km/week compared to those who trained less than 65 km/week.
Conclusions: In subjects with SCI who completed a wheelchair full marathon race, the incidence of URTI after the race was not high compared to control subjects who did not participate in the race. According to the number of URTI episodes and the training data, it is recommended that wheelchair marathoners should consider their risk for URTI during excessive practice.