They found that GPs often found it difficult to negotiate with parents who think that because their child has asthma, he or she should be excused from sports and other school activities.

Their study, published in this month’s British Journal of General Practice, found that physical activity was seen by some parents as a kind of threat to the child’s health, rather than something that could be beneficial.

The researchers said children with asthma were being subjected to a culture of over protection.

They concluded that GPs and asthma nurses needed to provide clear management plans explaining what was appropriate and safe in terms of exercise on a child-by-child basis, to counter the “considerable misunderstanding and disagreement among children, parents and teachers”.

Brian Williams, director of the Social Dimensions of Health Institute at the University of Dundee, said, “Exercise improves general health status, and reduces GP consultations and medication use among children with asthma.”

Mr Williams said the findings from the study showed that lower levels of activity reported among children with asthma “were strongly influenced by parental beliefs about the child’s physical capability and fears about the safety of exercising in the presence of perceived triggers”.

“This resulted in limitations being imposed on the intensity and duration of physical activities,” he said.