Higher proportion of prematurely born adults in elite breath-hold divers

Introduction: Preterm birth may significantly impair the functional and anatomical development of the respiratory system and could be a background for various life-long medical sequelae. Prematurity has been recently connected to changes in hypercapnic reactions at adult age. Altered reactions to pCO₂ in premature-born subjects may impact breath-hold underwater exercises (freediving) results.

Methods: AIDA International provided the list of top-100 rankings freediving athletes for the years 2016- 2021 with their personal best results. Data was collected using a subject questionnaire developed for the study (subject-reporting outcomes).

Period of data collection: March 2022 to June 2022.

Results: Within the sample of divers (n=146), 17.1% (n=25) were born prematurely. 13.7% (n=20) were moderate to late preterm, and 3.4% (n=6) were very preterm. The proportion of the athletes whose birth was premature was 18.1% for females and 16.2% for males. These figures are higher than the standardized estimated mean of the preterm birth rate of 8.5% calculated based on the geographical distribution of our sample. There was no difference in best personal results in freediving between the preterm and full-term elite freedivers.

Conclusions: The proportion of preterm within the elite freedivers is higher than could be estimated for the general population. There is no difference in best personal results between preterm and full-term elite freedivers.