Acute Mountain Sickness: Influence of Fluid Intake☆

Abstract

We found that fluid intake was associated but insignificantly correlated with incidence and degree of AMS. Past research suggests that vigorous hydration decreases incidence and severity of AMS and other altitude illnesses. Our results also imply that aggressive fluid intake is protective, but our limited sample size yielded insufficient power to demonstrate a statistically significant difference.

Serious Altitude Illness in Travelers Who Visited a Pre‐Travel Clinic

“…19 Therefore, the recommendation to increase fluid intake could possibly be one of the simplest interventions to reduce symptoms of altitude illness, as was recently concluded by Gatterer and colleagues and others. [20][21][22] On the other hand, it might be that dark urine merely is a consequence and not a risk factor of altitude illness.…”

The Effect of Path and Beginning Time of Ascending on Incidence of Acute Mountain Sickness around Mount Damavand in Iran (5671 m)

“…Several studies in different countries have been done so far, and incidence rates have been reported from 25% to 69% [2, 5–11]. Some effective factors have been considered in several studies, such as change of altitude related to residence altitude [3, 5, 11], speed of mountain climbing [1, 2, 11], very low and very high range of ages [5, 12], positive history of mountain sickness [8, 11], beginning mountain climbing at night [11], sleep in altitudes more than 3 hours in altitude [1], and water and fluid intake [13]. However, the relation of some factors like age and gender to the incidence of the disease is in doubt.…”

Traveller's Diarrhoea - Prevention and Treatment in the Mountains

“…This loss of performance is comparable to an additional ascent of 1,500 m. [8][9][10]. Reduced fluid intake is correlated with incidence and degree of acute mountain sickness (survey in [11,12]), as well as loss of fluid. For example, there are several cases where acclimatized mountaineers developed acute mountain sickness (AMS) due to diarrhoea induced dehydration instead of further ascent [11,13], Dehydration has an additional performance decreasing effect in hot environments.…”

“…Reduced fluid intake is correlated with incidence and degree of acute mountain sickness (survey in [11,12]), as well as loss of fluid. For example, there are several cases where acclimatized mountaineers developed acute mountain sickness (AMS) due to diarrhoea induced dehydration instead of further ascent [11,13], Dehydration has an additional performance decreasing effect in hot environments. If the mountaineer is climbing in a hot environment, any percent loss of body weight by dehydration causes an increase of the core temperature of 0.1 to 0.4°C [14].…”