Value of Bronchial Challenge in Scuba Diving Candidates

Bronchial challenges were effected with carbachol in 76 subjects who were candidates for a scuba diving group. Bronchial reactivity was assessed through airway resistance and forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV₁) measurements. Medical interrogation had revealed symptoms of recent (RA) or ancient (AA) asthma, or allergic rhinitis (AL). Nearly half of the subjects (47%) presented bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR), which was much more frequent in the RA group, but whose strength did not depend on clinical presentation. Prevalence of BHR was fairly high (36%) in the AL group. BHR constituted a contraindication to scuba diving because it may promote pulmonary barotrauma.