Effect of physical activities and sport among patients with asthma on their life

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse active level of lifestyle among asthmatic patients and their participation on physical activities and sports. Another goal was to find out whether asthmatic patients are limited when performing physical activities or sports because of the medical condition and how physically active lifestyle influences the medical condition and whether it takes part on improving their quality of life.
Methods: A survey was used for data collection. To gather information, our own survey form was developed – a self-reported tool which clinically compares and measures physical activity (such as other standardised and international forms: International Physical Activity Questionnaire and St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire). A questionnaire was distributed to people working with asthmatic patients, to different sports clubs and among university students. The research group consists of 125 respondents. The obtained data was processed into tables and charts via Microsoft Office Word 2016, Microsoft Office Excel 2016 and SPSS program. A verification of hypotheses was carried out according to the results of the survey and the independence test - chi-squared test.
Results: According to the chosen data processing methods, the limitation of asthmatic patients in physical activities or sports was not confirmed – physical activities on regular basis perform 100 respondents (80%), 69 respondents (55.2%) stated no limitation within physical activities due to asthma and e.g., in patients with most severe asthma were 66.7% (n = 4) of them without limitation when being active. The positive effect of regular physical activity on reducing clinical manifestations of the asthma, on reducing medication doses and also on improving the quality of life of patients has been confirmed. Physical therapy has proven to be effective, but more emphasis is needed on educating asthmatics by healthcare professionals about this treatment method.