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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 12 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1400236
This article is part of the Research Topic Integrative Physiological Approaches to Understand High Altitude Adaptation View all 6 articles
Manuscript type: Original Research Incidence and risk factors of severe acute high-altitude illness in healthy adults first entering the northern Tibetan Plateau of over 5000 m
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
- 2 Research Center for Physical Fitness at High Altitude, Chengguan District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Lhasa Tibet, China
- 3 Department of Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental Protection (QHSE), China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing, China
- 4 Evaluation Research Center, Renmin University of China, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 5 Endoscopy Center, Liaoyang Gastroenterological Hospital, Liaoyang, China
- 6 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 7 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shuanghu County Health Commission, Nagqu Tibet, China
- 8 Nursing Department, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
Background: Our study was designed to determine the incidence and risk factors of severe acute high-altitude illness (AHAI) in healthy adults first entering the northern Tibetan Plateau of over 5000 m. Methods: In our prospective observational study, 500 people were enrolled and they were scheduled for assignment fast ascending to the Plateau. Primary outcome variable is adopted, and severe AHAI is defined as that people have serious symptoms which cannot be ameliorated by general treatment and they must be evacuated to lower altitudes. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a cohort of 383 healthy people entered the statistical analysis. The incidence of severe AHAI was calculated, the risk factors were determined, and the differences of most severe symptoms were compared. Results: Sixty-eight people were diagnosed with severe AHAI and the incidence was 17.8%. Compared with the people without severe AHAI, the people with severe AHAI had higher percentages of age over 40, the Chinese Han nationality and living at the altitude of < 1500 m, a lower percentage of the Yi nationality, a lower altitude of permanent residence, and decreased levels of lymphocyte count and hemoglobin concentration. Multivariable logistic regression showed that the mean altitude of permanent residence (per kilometer, AOR=0.464; 95% CI, 0.304-0.708; P<0.001) and lymphocyte count (AOR=0.606; 95% CI, 0.378-0.970; P=0.037) were the independent risk factors. Headache and dyspnea ranked in the top two of the most severe symptoms for people with severe AHAI. Conclusion:Living at lower altitudes and having a decreased lymphocyte level were the risk factors of severe AHAI in healthy adults first entering the Plateau of over 5000 m.
Keywords: Acute high-altitude illness, risk factor, Northern Tibetan Plateau, Healthy adults, Incidence
Received: 13 Mar 2024; Accepted: 21 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Gao, Qi, Wang, Zhang, Liu, GE, Yong and Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chun Gao, Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China
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Guo-Dong Qi
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