Working at Altitude

[Psr777]

Just a quick question really, is anyone who reads this medically trained? I don't mean by an airline but real medical personnell?

If so, do you know what the effects of working at altitude are?

Have there been any studies on the effects and do you have a link to the results.

Is the "urban legend" true, that working one hour on the ground is equivalent to 1 1/2 hours at 8,oooft a.s.l.?

Many Thanks

:p :p :p

[gingernut]

Psr, sorry I'm not an expert in this field.

If you can be more specific about your question,(eg are you looking at short term or long term effects), you could search for relevant studies on a reputable medical database, such as "Medline."

Alternatively you could try obtaining a book on "mountain medicine." (From your local University library).

[Psr777]

gingernut:

To be more specific, I am looking at short term - day to day operations of working as cabin and flight crew and the effects of fatigue. I am interested in the CAA's interpretation of fatigue and airlines implementation of CAP 371 and their variations.

It is a topic I have posted before regarding the Health And Safety At Work Act and the lack of legal designated "breaks" when operating as crew.

Long Term - Most aviation personnell I am sure have heard the stories about "a friend of a friend of a friend " who became ill through work. I believe there was a study that said male pilots were more prone to prostate cancer than other occupations for a certain age group, I just wondered if any other studies had been carried out regarding long term exposure to altitude.

Interestingly, I have been informed I cannot donate blood if I have been operatin within 24 hours as the oxygen levels in the blood are not high enough, but not convinced of this it is probably just a rumour.

Any replies appreciated.
:p

[DX Wombat]

I can't comment on some of you questions but two things spring to mind.
The first is that environmental oxygen levels are lower at 8,000' than sea level and people who live at high altitude produce a greater number of red blood corpuscles to cope with this. Athletes competing at major events being held at high altitude, such as the Olympic Games in Mexico, usually travel out there well ahead of the event in order to acclimatise themselves to these lower levels.
The second is regarding blood oxygen levels. The level of oxygen in your blood changes continually from breath to breath and, unless you were being monitored at the time, the level at say 1000 hrs yesterday cannot be determined at 1000 hrs today.

[QDMQDMQDM]

There are plenty of effects on the body of chronic exposure to high altitude, but I don't think they are relevant here.

Firstly, altitude effects in the normal individual are not generally thought to occur until above 2,600m or roughly your 8,000ft cabin altitude, so forget blood changes or anything like that for this reason alone. Secondly, the exposure is not 'long-term', it's just a few hours at a time. To get deleterious altitude effects you need to go up and stay up. This is why acclimatising climbers sleep lower than they climb during the day.

The level of oxygen in your blood changes continually from breath to breath and, unless you were being monitored at the time, the level at say 1000 hrs yesterday cannot be determined at 1000 hrs today.

True in only a limited sense and not really relevant. The changes are tiny and if you had a normal arterial oxygen tension at rest at sea level in a healthy state yesterday you will have one today too, assuming nothing has changed.

Overall, exposure to 8,000ft cabin altitudes, per se, is highly unlikely to be a cause of occupational illness.

QDM

[min]

Psr777, you might want to try and track down some of the following articles:-

1. Caldwell, J.A. (1997) Fatigue in the Aviation Environment: An Overview of the Causes and Effects As Well As Recommended Countermeasures, Aviat Space and Environ Med 1997, 68:932-8.

2. NTSB (1994). Safety Study: A Review of Flight Crew Involved, Major Accidents of U.S. Air Carriers, 1978-1990. PB94-917001 NTSB/SS-9401. Washington, D.C: NTSB.

3. Battelle Memorial Institute. (1998) A Review of Issues Concerning Duty Period Limitations, Flight Time Limitations, and Rest Requirements. Federal Aviation Administration (AAR-100). Washington, D.C.

4. Colquhoun, P. (1976). Psychological and Psychophysiological Aspects of Work and Fatigue. Activitas Nervosa Superior, 18, 257-263.

5. Dinges, D.F. (1995) Performance Effects of Fatigue. Fatigue Symposium Proceedings. Washington, D.C: NTSB

M.

[Psr777]

Thanks very much everyone and will try to track down those articles min.:eek: :eek: