Determinants of lung function changes in athletic swimmers. A review

• Published in: Acta Paediatrica 2022-02, Vol.111 (2), p.259-264
• Main Authors: Rochat, Isabelle, Côté, Andréanne, Boulet, Louis‐Philippe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; athletes; Humans; Lung; lung function tests; lung growth and development; Lungs; Meta-analysis; Mini Review; Mini Reviews; Physiology; Positive selection; Respiratory function; Respiratory Function Tests; Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; Swimming
• ISSN: 0803-5253; 1651-2227
• DOI: 10.1111/apa.16095

Aim To summarise lung function characteristics of athletic swimmers and discuss mechanisms explaining these changes while putting forward the lack of a clear understanding of the precise physiological factors implicated. Methods Literature search until 07.2021 on Medline and EMBASE using keywords swimming, athletes, respiratory physiology, lung development, lung function tests. Relevant articles in French and English were reviewed. Results We found insufficient data to perform a meta‐analysis. However, there is evidence that swimmers have better expiratory flows and increased baseline lung volumes than non‐athletes or non‐swimmers. Although these features can result from changes in lung development following intense training over the years, the contribution of a genetic predisposition and positive selection cannot be totally excluded. Conclusion Disentangling the participation of constitutional factors and years of hard training to explain the larger lung volumes of athletic swimmers is in favour of an adaptative response of the lungs to early swim training through modification of the pathway of lung development. There seems to be an optimal window of opportunity before the end of growth for these adaptational changes to occur. Precise mechanisms, and contribution of adaptative change on lung physiology, remain to be further studied.