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Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] People's bodies can respond to high altitude in different ways.
The effects of high altitude on humans are mostly the consequences of reduced partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere. The medical problems that are direct consequence of high altitude are caused by the low inspired partial pressure of oxygen, which is caused by the reduced atmospheric pressure, and the constant gas fraction of oxygen in ...
This window can be extended to 36 hours for ascent to altitude and 48 hours for prolonged exposure to altitude following diving. [10] An alternative diagnosis should be suspected if severe symptoms begin more than six hours following decompression without an altitude exposure or if any symptom occurs more than 24 hours after surfacing. [78]
HAPE is a severe presentation of altitude sickness. Cases have also been reported between 1,500–2,500 metres or 4,900–8,200 feet in people who are at a higher risk or are more vulnerable to the effects of high altitude.
There are three principal physiological effects arising from decompression at altitude: decompression sickness due to bubble formation in the tissues similar to those caused by decompression after exposure to pressures higher than sea level atmospheric pressure, barotrauma caused by the over-expansion of gas-filled spaces, and altitude sickness, a manifestation of hypoxia due to the naturally ...
High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is a medical condition in which the brain swells with fluid because of the physiological effects of traveling to a high altitude. It generally appears in patients who have acute mountain sickness and involves disorientation, lethargy, and nausea among other symptoms.
Altitude sickness – Medical condition due to rapid exposure to low oxygen at high altitude; Death zone – Altitudes above about 8,000 m (26,000 ft) Decompression (altitude) – Reduction in ambient pressure due to ascent above sea level; Decompression illness – Disorders arising from ambient pressure reduction; Effects of high altitude on ...
Altitude decompression may occur as a decompression from saturation at a lower altitude, or as decompression from an excursion to a lower altitude, in the case of people living at high altitude, making a short duration trip to low altitude, and returning, or a person decompressing from a dive at altitude, which is a special case of diving ...