Respiratory and hematological adaptations of young and older aymara men native to 3600M
Fecha
1992Autor
Beall, CM
Strohl, KP
Gothe, B
Brittenham, GM
Barragán, M
Vargas, E
Metadatos
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ABSTRACT. This paper reports the results of a study designed to test the
hypothesis that an inevitable concomitant of aging at high altitudes is chronic
mountain sickness resulting from excess erythrocytosis secondary to exaggerated
hypoxemia caused by aging processes in the respiratory system. It compares age
differences in respiratory system function in oxygenating the blood measured as
percent O₂ saturation of arterial hemoglobin during wakefulness and sleep and in
erythrocytosis measured as hemoglobin concentration in 17 young (22-35 years)
and 16 older (47-68 years) rural and urban resident Bolivian Aymara men, healthy
lifelong residents of 3,500-4,000 m who were tested at 3,600 m. The results do not
support the hypothesis. Older urban men are significantly more hypoxemic during
wakefulness and sleep than young urban men, while there are no age differences in
the degree of hypoxemia among the rural residents. However, older urban men do
not have the higher hemoglobin concentration predicted by the hypothesis. Both
urban and rural older men have lower hemoglobin concentration than their young
counterparts, a finding not attributable to age differences in nutritional status or
testosterone concentration. Despite their relatively low hemoglobin concentration,
older men have estimated arterial 0₂ content in the normal sea level range for
young men and in this sense retain the capacity to adapt to high altitude at least
through the seventh decade of life.