Health Effects of Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia at a High Altitude among Chilean Miners: Rationale, Design, and Baseline Results of a Longitudinal Study

Primer Autor
Nazzal, Carolina
Co-autores
Munoz, Sergio
Jimenez, Daniel
Frenz, Patricia
Flores, Patricia
Alcantara-Zapata, Diana
Marchetti, Nella
Título
Health Effects of Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia at a High Altitude among Chilean Miners: Rationale, Design, and Baseline Results of a Longitudinal Study
Editorial
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Revista
ANNALS OF WORK EXPOSURES AND HEALTH
Lenguaje
en
Resumen
Objectives:This study aims to assess the health effects on mining workers of exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) at high- and very high-altitude mining compared with similar work at lower altitudes in Chile, and it also aims to constitute the baseline of a 5-year follow-up study. Methods: We designed a cross-sectional study to assess health conditions in 483 miners working at 2 levels of altitude exposure: 336 working at a very high or high altitude (HA, 247 above 3900-4400 m, and 89 at 3000-3900 m), and 147 below 2400 m. Subjects were randomly selected in two stages. First, a selection of mines from a census of mines in each altitude stratum was made. Secondly, workers with less than 2 years of employment at each of the selected mines were recruited.The main outcomes measured at the baseline were mountain sickness, sleep alterations, hypertension, body mass index, and neurocognitive functions. Results: Prevalence of acute mountain sickness (AMS) was 28.4% in the very high-altitude stratum (P = 0.0001 compared with the low stratum), and 71.7% experienced sleep disturbance (P = 0.02). The adjusted odds ratio for AMS was 9.2 (95% confidence interval: 5.2-16.3) when compared with the very high- and low-altitude groups. Motor processing speed and spatial working memory score were lower for the high-altitude group. Hypertension was lower in the highest-altitude subjects, which may be attributed to preoccupational screening even though this was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Despite longer periods of acclimatization to CIH, subjects continue to present AMS and sleep disturbance. Compromise of executive functions was detected, including working memory at HA. Further rigorous research is warranted to understand long-term health impacts of high-altitude mining, and to provide evidence-based policy recommendations.
Tipo de Recurso
artículo original
doi
10.1093/annweh/wxab029
Formato Recurso
PDF
Palabras Claves
acute mountain sickness
chronic intermittent hypoxia
extreme environments
intermittent exposure to high altitude
mining
sleep disturbance
working in extreme conditions
ACUTE MOUNTAIN-SICKNESS
OXYGEN-SATURATION
CARDIAC-OUTPUT
EXERCISE
ACCLIMATIZATION
PREVALENCE
EXPOSURE
WORKERS
SYSTEM
ASCENT
Ubicación del archivo
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxab029
Categoría OCDE
Salud pública
ambiental y ocupacional
Materias
mal agudo de montaña
hipoxia crónica intermitente
ambientes extremos
exposición intermitente a gran altitud
minería
alteraciones del sueño
trabajo en condiciones extremas
MAL AGUDO DE MONTAÑA
SATURACIÓN DE OXÍGENO
GASTO CARDÍACO
EJERCICIO
ACCLIMATIZACIÓN
PREVALENCIA
EXPOSICIÓN
TRABAJADORES
SISTEMA
ASCENSO
Disciplinas de la OCDE
Otros Temas de Medicina Clínica
Salud Pública y Ambiental
Minería y Procesamiento de Minerales
Título de la cita (Recomendado-único)
Health Effects of Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia at a High Altitude among Chilean Miners: Rationale, Design, and Baseline Results of a Longitudinal Study
Página de inicio (Recomendado-único)
908
Página final (Recomendado-único)
918
Identificador del recurso (Mandatado-único)
artículo original
Versión del recurso (Recomendado-único)
version publicada
Condición de la licencia (Recomendado-repetible)
0
Derechos de acceso
restringido
Access Rights
restringido
Id de Web of Science
WOS:000743314100004
Colecciones
Colección Publicaciones Científicas
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