Reaching new heights
December 2006Independent undergraduate group the Manchester Altitude Research Society in the School of Medicine has won the best presentation award at the Birmingham Medical Research Expeditionary Society’s annual conference, for a overview of its research by team member Andrew Davies.
Colleague Nick Kalson said: “We visited Mount Kilimanjaro last summer to try and identify predictive factors for acute mountain sickness (AMS) in climbers. AMS affects thousands of mountaineers and climbers each year, not only causing considerable discomfort and stopping people’s ascent but also being a precursor to more serious, occasionally lethal, problems.
“By identifying what predisposes climbers to AMS, or indicators that it is on the way, climbers could be alerted to the potential problem.”
The team took data from 300 climbers on a popular route up the 5895m mountain, looking at basic physiological factors such as heart rate, lung function, arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and respiratory rate (RR). They measured these values each night over six days, and assessed the subjects for signs and symptoms of AMS.
“As expected, we found that a significant proportion of the subjects were affected by AMS,” Nick continues, “and only 60% made it to the summit. Those with severe AMS were less likely to get there.
“We also identified physiological predictors of AMS; subjects with lower SaO2 and higher RR at 4700m for example being more likely to suffer from it.”
Traditional altitude research has used small groups of climbers as subjects, making the use of a large number of subjects from the trekking public an under-used and novel idea. Identifying climbers at risk of AMS could enable expedition-planning focused on preventing its occurrence, including slower climbing and greater opportunities for acclimatisation, maximising climbers’ chances of success.
