Association between physiological responses after exercise at low altitude and acute mountain sickness upon ascent is sex-dependent

Yang Shen; Yuan-Qi Yang; Chuan Liu; Jie Yang; Ji-Hang Zhang; Jun Jin; Hu Tan; Fang-Zheng-Yuan Yuan; Jing-Bin Ke; Chun-Yan He; Lai-Ping Zhang; Chen Zhang; Jie Yu; Lan Huang

doi:10.1186/s40779-020-00283-3

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Association between physiological responses after exercise at low altitude and acute mountain sickness upon ascent is sex-dependent

RESEARCH | Updated：2023-02-28

- Association between physiological responses after exercise at low altitude and acute mountain sickness upon ascent is sex-dependent
- Military Medical Research Vol. 8, Issue 2, Pages: 174-182(2021)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases of PLA, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China
  2.Department of Cardiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China
- Author bio：
  
  * huanglan260@126.com
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1186/s40779-020-00283-3
  CLC：
- Published：2021-06
- Accepted：
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Shen et al.: Association between physiological responses after exercise at low altitude and acute mountain sickness upon ascent is sex-dependent. Mil Med Res, 2020, 7: 53.
DOI：

Shen et al.: Association between physiological responses after exercise at low altitude and acute mountain sickness upon ascent is sex-dependent. Mil Med Res, 2020, 7: 53. DOI： 10.1186/s40779-020-00283-3.

摘要

Abstract

Background:

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is the mildest form of acute altitude illnesses

and consists of nonspecific symptoms when unacclimatized persons ascend to elevation of ≥2500 m. Risk factors of AMS include: the altitude

individual susceptibility

ascending rate and degree of pre-acclimatization. In the current study

we examined whether physiological response at low altitude could predict the development of AMS.

Methods:

A total of 111 healthy adult healthy volunteers participated in this trial; and 99 (67 men and 32 women) completed the entire study protocol. Subjects were asked to complete a 9-min exercise program using a mechanically braked bicycle ergometer at low altitude (500 m). Heart rate

blood pressure (BP) and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO

) were recorded prior to and during the last minute of exercise. The ascent from 500 m to 4100 m was completed in 2 days. AMS was defined as ≥3 points in a 4-item Lake Louise Score

with at least one point from headache wat 6–8 h after the ascent.

Results:

Among the 99 assessable subjects

47 (23 men and 24 women) developed AMS at 4100 m. In comparison to the subjects without AMS

those who developed AMS had lower proportion of men (48.9%

. 84.6%

0.001)

height (168.4±5.9 cm

. 171.3±6.1 cm

=0.019)

weight (62.0±10.0 kg

. 66.7±8.6 kg

=0.014) and proportion of smokers (23.4%

. 51.9%

=0.004). Multivariate regression analysis revealed the following independent risks for AMS: female sex (odds ratio (

)=6.32

0.001)

SpO

change upon exercise at low altitude (

=0.63

=0.002) and systolic BP change after the ascent (

=0.96

=0.029). Women had larger reduction in SpO

after the ascent

higher AMS percentage and absolute AMS score. Larger reduction of SpO

after exercise was associated with both AMS incidence (

=0.001) and AMS score (

0.001) in men but not in women.

Conclusions:

Larger SpO

reduction after exercise at low altitude was an independent risk for AMS upon ascent. Such an association was more robust in men than in women.

Trial registration:

Chinese Clinical Trial Registration

ChiCTR1900025728. Registered 6 September 2019.

关键词

Keywords

references

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