According to a research conducted at the Ohio State University, athletes can be up to 500% more asthma-prone than the population at large. The connection between physical exertion and asthma is still somewhat unclear, but according to researchers, it may be due to the massive amount of air that passes in and out of the body during athletic activities can cause the respiratory pathways to become dry. This in turn can cause them to become swollen, obstructing airflow. Heavy exercise results in a significant loss of heat and water from the body, which can lead to asthmatic symptoms.

According to another school of thought, exercise-induced asthma is not a result of physical exertion, but it is simply a form of asthma that only manifests its symptoms during strenuous physical activities, and that the athletes who suffer from them are already asthmatic to begin with. The temperature changes the body experiences when exercising in an outdoor environment is also a matter that should be taken into consideration, since they can cause the respiratory tract to contract.

The phenomenon of exercise-induced asthma is being extensively researched, and comparisons between regular asthma sufferers and exercise-induced asthma sufferers are also being made.