Immune Function Assessment with ABEL®-Sport Test in Trained Rowers

Abstract

Background and aims: Rowing induced muscle stress may have impact on athletes’ immune-system and lead to an increased incidence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the capability of ABEL®-Sport test used in the field of to assess the susceptibility of rowers to URTI pending their exercise-loads. Methods: 6 male (aged 50 ± 16.9 y) and 5 female (aged 47 ± 9.6 y) club rowers recorded their habitual training and URTI symptoms daily for two weeks and performed a 6.8 km race-simulation on a rowing ergometer at the beginning of third week. The immune function of the rowers was assessed via the quantification and kinetics of oxidative burst response of leukocytes in 10 μl capillary blood using ABEL®-Sport test throughout the study in the field. Results: The severity of URTI symptoms increased from pre-race median value of 0 (0 – 9) to 3 (0 – 13) within two weeks post-race but was not statistically significant (p>.0125). There was very high correlation between the frequency of the occurrence of abnormal ABEL® Sport kinetics up to the 48h post-race for 7 rowers with URTI symptoms two weeks post-race (r = .930, p = .002). All 4 participants with a final URTI score >10 had irregular oxidative burst kinetics before the race and 48h after and 2 of them have not reported any URTI symptoms before the race. Conclusion: The study results indicate that ABEL®-Sport test used in the field is capable of detecting susceptibility to URTI in club rowers and could guide individual athletes in training-loads suitable for their well-being.