Chest
Clinical InvestigationsPhysiologyChronic Mountain Sickness and Chronic Lower Respiratory Tract Disorders
Section snippets
Methods
An epidemiologic survey was conducted among adult men (46.3 percent of the total male population) with permanent residence (born, 87 percent, or living more than 10 years, 13 percent) in the mining town of Cerro de Pasco (4,300 m; total population: 70,000). The sampling frame was constructed from updated maps that were detailed at the block level. A two-stage cluster sample was chosen. The first stage was a simple random sampling of blocks. The second stage was a simple random sampling of one
Results
Men with CLRD had higher Hb values and CMSsco, and lower PEFRs and SaO2 values when compared with normal men or men with ARD (Table 1). We compared the frequencies (percent) of men with excessive erythrocytosis (Hb >21.3 g/dl), low SaO2 values (SaO2 <81.5 percent), low PEFR values (PEFR <276 L/min), and high CMSsco (CMSsco >21) among the normal, ARD, CURD, and CLRD groups. The low SaO2 value of 81.5 percent was used, based on the analysis of the SaO2 and Hb concentrations of the normal
Discussion
Our results support the notion that, at high altitude, chronic lower respiratory diseases are strongly associated with the development of CMS, while acute and chronic upper respiratory disorders are not. Previous evidence for this interaction comes from studies that showed that some patients with CMS had moderate obstructive lung disease.20 These studies hypothesized that alveolar hypoventilation together with chronic lung disease could be involved in the exaggerated hypoxemia characteristic of
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Supported by grant 3-P-89-0247 from the International Development Research Centre, IDRC, Canada.
Manuscript revision accepted December 27.