“Disaster Medicine” Journal

DISASTER MEDICINE No. 2•2021

https://doi.org/10.33266/2070-1004-2021-2

Prevention and Treatment of Altitude Disease

Samoylov A.S.¹, Rylova N.V.¹, Bol’shakov I.V.¹, Kazakov V.F.¹

¹ State Research Center – Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center of Federal Medical Biological Agency, Moscow, Russian Federation

UDC 616-032:612.213:796.077.2

Pp. 55-58

Abstract. The aim of the study is to determine the tactics of effective prevention and treatment of altitude sickness in the conditions of medium and high mountains.

Materials and research methods. Domestic and foreign literature on altitude sickness are analyzed. The search was carried out using the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, eLIBRARY for the period from 2013 to 2021. The following keywords and their combinations were used for the search: altitude sickness, treatment, prevention.

Research results and their analysis. The features of the development of altitude sickness, risk factors, modern approaches to the treatment of this pathology, as well as the possibilities of pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of prevention are considered. It is noted that the key method of preventing altitude sickness is a gradual ascent to great heights, and a promising method for its prevention can be an early implementation of interval hypoxic training. If one needs to quickly climb to heights of over 2.5 thousand meters, it is possible to use drugs such as acetazolamide and dexamethasone. In case of ineffectiveness of prevention and of development of any form of altitude sickness, the most effective treatment is an immediate descent to lower altitudes. If the descent is impossible, the use of oxygen and pharmacotherapy is justified, it is also possible to use hyperbaric chambers.

Key words: acute mountain sickness, altitude sickness, athletes, high-altitude cerebral edema, high-altitude pulmonary edema, prevention, treatment

For citation: Samoylov A.S., Rylova N.V., Bol’shakov I.V., Kazakov V.F. Prevention and Treatment of Altitude Disease. Meditsina katastrof = Disaster Medicine. 2021;2:55-58 (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.33266/2070-1004-2021-2-55-58

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The material was received 28.03.21; the article after peer review procedure 31.03.21; the Editorial Board accepted the article for publication 15.06.21