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Editor's Choice

Making the most of the Olympics

BMJ 2012; 344 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e2977 (Published 26 April 2012)
Cite this as: BMJ 2012;344:e2977

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Re: Making the most of the Olympics

7 August 2012

On April 24 the Feature of Sophie Arie called attention on the very high prevalence of asthma in athletes, on the relevance of an optimal management of this disease in sport medicine, as well as on the fact that the “shop window” of elite athletes may have an important educational role for the general public. In the same issue, Fiona Goodlee invited all readers to share and discuss the content of the above article and of her Editor’s Choice for “Making the most of the Olympics”.

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative discussed the matter and reached a consensus on the enclosed brief document which focuses on the importance of diagnosing and treating allergic rhinitis in order to prevent asthma and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in athletes. The considerations reported may possibly help not only athletes and sports doctors at present involved in the London Olympics, but also the 25% of the general population with allergic rhinitis who occasionally exercise.

Matteo Bonini and Jean Bousquet
on behalf of the ARIA Initiative*

The following are members of the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative: C. Bachert, C.E. Baena-Cagnani, A. Bedbrook, S. Bonini, J.L. Brozek, G.W. Canonica, A.A. Cruz, W.J. Fokkens, R. Gerth van Wijk, L. Grouse, P.W. Hellings, P. Howarth, O. Kalayci, N. Khaltaev, P. Kuna, D. Larenas Linnemann, K. Nekam, S. Palkonen, N.G. Papadopoulos, R. Pawankar, T.A. Popov, D. Price, J. Rosado Pinto, G. Rasi, D. Ryan, B. Samolinski, G.K. Scadding, H.J. Schunemann, D.M. Thomas, A. Yorgancioglu, O.M. Yusuf, T. Zuberbier. All ARIA members reviewed and commented the text drafted according to the outline agreed on at an ARIA meeting, and approved the final document.

Competing interests: None declared

Matteo Bonini, Research Associate

Jean Bousquet on behalf of the ARIA initiative

Italian National Reserch Council, Institute of Translational Pharmacology

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Please help reduce unnecessary delays to the underground.

27 June 2012

I am sure that most passengers have experienced delays whilst travelling on the underground, a lot of which are caused by our ageing infrastructure and we have comprehensive plans to deal with these.

There are however about 20 incidents per week caused by passengers becoming ill on a train. The average time for such delays is six and a half minutes, which does not sound very long, but our service is so intense, particularly during the peak, that such delays result in a significant number of trains being held in tunnels.

If you offer immediate assistance to a passenger who is taken ill on the train, please do not stop our staff from removing the person from the train whilst waiting for ambulance paramedics to arrive. Our staff are trained to deal with these incidents and we have risk assessed this situation.

There is no benefit to the ill person remaining on the train, almost no risk that removing them to the platform will harm them, but the resulting delays, if they are not removed, can cause a real risk to passengers on stalled trains behind.

We rely on air movement to reduce heat build up in the cars, and in stalled trains heat can become a real health issue to other passengers.

It is very important for us to avoid all unnecessary delays particularly over the Olympic period, when the system will be operating to maximum capacity and will therefore be crowded and hot.
Thank you.

Competing interests: None declared

Julia T. Chapman, Occupational Physician

Transport for London, Townsend House, Greycoat Place, Victoria, London SW1P 1BL

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