Description:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>To investigate if occurrence of newly diagnosed exercise induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) would affect adolescents' ability to assess their physical activity.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>99 selected adolescents with self‐reported exercise induced dyspnea, and 47 randomly selected controls were included. All of the 146 adolescents then performed a standardized exercise challenge test on a treadmill with dry‐air inhalation to detect EIB. Free living physical activity was assessed during 7 days with both accelerometer (objective assessment) and a validated activity diary (subjective assessment). Height, weight and subjective sleep was recorded.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Forty‐six of the adolescents with EIB (35 girls and 11 boys) and 84 of the control adolescents (45 girls and 39 boys) had complete 7 day activity diary and accelerometer data. There were no differences in age, BMI and sleep between EIB and control children. Boys with EIB showed a bigger difference between subjective and objective assessment, compared to girls with EIB. No difference was seen between control boys and girls. Furthermore, boys with EIB reported a much higher frequency of high intensity exercise than girls with EIB, but no difference was observed between control boys and girls.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Adolescent boys with newly diagnosed EIB have a bigger difference between subjective and objective assessment of physical activity compared to EIB girls. Caution may thus be used when choosing methods measuring level of physical activity in this group and especially when investigating gender differences.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Support or Funding Information</jats:bold></jats:p><jats:p>This study was funded by the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, the Signhild Engqvist Foundation, and the Bror Hjerpstedt Foundation.</jats:p></jats:sec>