Effect of exercise on upper respiratory tract infection in sedentary subjects.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if exercise training affects the severity and duration of a naturally acquired upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in sedentary subjects. METHODS: Subjects were sedentary volunteers (two or fewer days a week of exercise for less than 30 minutes a day for the previous three months), 18-29 years of age, with a naturally acquired URTI (three to four days of onset). All subjects were screened-for example, asthma, hay fever-by a doctor and were afebrile. Volunteers were alternately assigned to an exercise (EX) group (four men, seven women) or a non-exercise (NEX) group (three men, eight women). Subjects in the EX group completed 30 minutes of supervised exercise at 70% of target heart rate range for five days of a seven day period. For the initial screening, and every 12 hours, all subjects completed a 13 item symptom severity checklist and a physical activity log. Cold symptom scores were obtained until the subjects were asymptomatic. Significance was set at p