Medical Conditions and High-Altitude Travel
abstract
This abstract is available on the publisher's site.
Access this abstract nowAs interest in adventure travel grows and transportation net-works expand, more people are traveling to terrestrial high altitudes for active and sedentary endeavors, including hiking, skiing, sightseeing, religious pilgrimages, and work. Often, travelers seek medical advice on trip safety, with the primary focus on prevention and treatment of acute altitude illnesses, including high-altitude headache, acute mountain sickness, high-altitude cerebral edema, and high-altitude pulmonary edema. Given the prevalence of diseases such as asthma and hypertension, many people planning high-altitude travel are likely to have a preexisting medical condition. In such cases, clinicians should broaden their pretravel counseling and consider how reductions in barometric pressure and subsequent decreases in the ambient partial pressure of oxygen (Po2) — known as hypobaric hypoxia — will affect the underlying condition and the safety of a planned high-altitude excursion.
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Medical Conditions and High-Altitude Travel
N. Engl. J. Med 2022 Jan 27;386(4)364-373, AM Luks, PH HackettFrom MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
This NEJM review article provides a framework for advising patients with medical conditions who are considering high-altitude travel. Figure 1 summarizes the physiological responses to hypoxia that occurs at high altitudes. Table 2 lists contraindications to travelling about 2500 m above sea level, while table 3 outlines concerns and mitigation strategies for common medical conditions. This NEJM review outlines the physiological sequelae of high altitude travel and the effects of high altitudes on patients with common medical conditions.