The Use of Pulse Oximetry at High Altitude_ Crimson Publishers

 The Use of Pulse Oximetry at High Altitude by Markus Tannheimer* in Research & Investigations in Sports Medicine_ Journal of Sports Medicine

 

Abstract

More than 100 million people visit high mountain regions every year and engage there in sporting activities [1]. Due to the reduced air pressure at altitude, the arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) decreases [2,3]. The resulting oxygen deficiency in the tissue is the cause of acute mountain sickness (AMS) in previously healthy individuals [4-6]. It can easily be quantified noninvasively by pulse oximetry [3,7,8]. For this reason, the pulse-oximetric determination of oxygen saturation (SpO2) during altitude stays is used frequently for the diagnosis of AMS as well as for the assessment of altitude acclimatization status [3,5,7,9-11]. However, pulse oximetry measurements at altitude are much more complex and error-prone than at sea level [8,10,12,13]. Therefore, the use of pulse oximetry at high altitude is viewed critically by experts [8-10,14]. This mini-review describes the special aspects of pulseoximetric measurements at altitude and gives recommendations on how to perform them.

There is a consensus to use pulse oximetry for monitoring ill persons at altitude [10,14,15]. Concerns exist about possible incorrect measurements due to cold-related deficient blood circulation or movement artifacts [10,16,17]. In our opinion, movement artifacts fundamentally contradict the defined measurement situation of a resting measurement. The test person sits quietly in warm clothing with warm fingers, the sensor is protected from sunlight, while an experienced examiner visually determines the representative mean value of the 2-3-minute measurement interval [5,10,12]. If for whatever reason, the measurement is disturbed due to movement, it is discarded and the measurement is repeated after standardization and optimizing the measurement situation

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