Scuba dive may affect kids' lung function, briefly

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children show narrowing in their airways after making a single scuba dive, French researchers report.

The effect is most likely due to breathing cool, dry air from a tank, and is probably not permanent, Dr. Frederic Lemaitre of the Universite de Rouen, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health. "I think it's more transient," he added.

Lemaitre and his colleagues had 18 experienced young divers and 18 novices, all 9 to 13 years of age, do a single 25-minute dive to 3 meters. Their lung function was measured 20 minutes before and 10 minutes after the dive.

After the dive, on average, the children showed changes in lung function that suggested some modest airway narrowing. No difference was seen between the experienced and the novice divers, the investigators report in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.

The findings are not a cause for concern for young divers, said Lemaitre. The researcher said regulations generally protect children by limiting the number of dives they perform and the depth to which they descend. In France, for example, children can begin diving at age 8 and are only allowed to dive once a day.

However, Lemaitre said, French rules allow adolescents 12 to 18 to go below 30 meters, which could put them at risk of lung problems, he said. "I think the population at risk is not children," he said. "The population at risk, I think, is adolescents."

Lemaitre added that he recommends adolescents stay above 30 meters when diving. "I think children can dive, but the dive must be fitted to the children," he concluded.

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, November 2006.