Active clinical trials for "Altitude Sickness"

Congenital heart diseases are among the most common congenital anomalies and occur with an incidence of approximately 8ınd12 / 1,000 live births worldwide. This figure does not cover minor lesions such as bicuspid aortic valves and small atrial or ventricular septal defects. Most of these defects do not need treatment or treatment is needed after infancy. Other defects are severe and usually require early treatment in the neonatal period. Critical congenital heart disease is defined as structural heart defects that are associated with hypoxia in the neonatal period and have significant morbidity and mortality potential in early life. Critical congenital heart disease is estimated to be ~3 in 1000 live births. It is estimated that 50% of congenital heart diseases are detected by prenatal ultrasound. Even if a standard neonatal examination is performed, 13 to 55% of patients with critical congenital heart disease can be discharged from the hospital without being diagnosed. Screening of infants with non-invasive oxygen saturation measurement has been proposed as an adjunct to early detection of critical congenital heart disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association have targeted 7 specific lesions for the pulse oximetry screening protocol: truncus arteriosus, transposition of the great arteries, tricuspid atresia, tetralogy of Fallot, total pulmonary venous return anomaly, hypoplastic left heart syndrome and pulmonary atresia. The reference values of peripheral perfusion (PPI) index has been established for normal newborns between 1 and 120 h of age. Lower PPI values than 0.70 may indicate illness. Including cut-off values for PPI in pulse-oximetry screening for duct dependent congenital heart disease is a promising tool for improving the detection of critical congenital heart disease with duct-dependent systemic circulation. We aimed to investigate screening critical congenital heart disease and also to establish normal values of oxygen saturation and perfusion index at high altitude.

High altitude pulmonary hypertension, a form of altitude illness that occurs in long-term residents at altitudes >2500 m, is characterized by dyspnea, hypoxemia, impaired exercise performance and hypertension in the pulmonary circulation. Whether sleep related breathing disturbances, common causes of nocturnal hypoxemia in lowlanders, are also prevalent in highlanders and promote pulmonary hypertension in highlanders is unknown. Therefore, the current study will investigate whether highlanders with high altitude pulmonary hypertension have a greater prevalence of sleep apnea than healthy highlanders and lowlanders.

The proposed study is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating ibuprofen and placebo for the prevention of neurological forms of altitude illness [including high altitude headache (HAH), acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and an emerging concept of High Altitude Anxiety]. The study will take place in the spring and summer of 2012 at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in the Eastern Sierras near Bridgeport, California. US Marines from near sea level will participate in battalion-level training exercises at between 8,500-11,500 Feet, where some altitude illness is expected. Concurrent measures used to determine objective markers of altitude illness, such that validated clinical scales, rapid cognitive screening tests, will inform us of symptoms of altitude illness.

This project will consist of two studies, each investigating resting and exercise cardio-respiratory responses during exposure to hypoxia in individuals born prematurely and individuals born at full term of two different age groups: Kids (10-14 yrs) and Adults (18-22 yrs).Additional study will be performed on a preterm adult cohort (15 participants) that will investigate potential differences between hypobaric and normobaric hypoxia as outlined in the following section.

This ambispective cohort study aims to evaluate the effect of high altitudes environment on human's physiological and metabolic markers, specific markers of main human systems, and incidence rate and severity of chronic mountain sickness (CMS).

Mechanisms underlying high-altitude intolerance as well as exercise performance limitation in hypoxia still remain to be fully understood. Recent data suggest that sleep disturbances on one hand and cerebral perturbations on teh other hand may be key mechanisms. The investigators evaluated 12 healthy subjects at sea level and at 4400 m of altitude for 7 days in order to better describe sleep and cerebral responses. The investigators hypothesized that sleep and cerebral disturbances play a critical role for the developement of acute mountain sickness and for exercise performance limitation during acute high-altitude exposure.

We use a new technology (Nexfin from BMEYE-Inventive Hemodynamics) to monitor Cardiac Output, Blood Pressure, Fluid Responsiveness, Pulse Oximetry, Hemoglobin Concentration, Oxygen Delivery in Climbers during their process of acclimatization on a expedition to Mount Aconcagua.