Monthly Archives: May 2015

Child Growth & Development, Health, High Altitude, Medicine

SIDS incidence double above 8000 ft

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Dr. David Katz at the University of Colorado reviewed 393000 births between 2007-2012. Of these 80% live between 3000-6000 ft. Only 1.9% live over 8000 ft. Death rates from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) state-wide was 4.2 per 10,000 but over 8000 ft the rate was 7.9/10000.

Another study Bu Dr Richard Johnson et.al. was published in 2021 in the Science Reports.  This included all births as recorded in the CDC database between 2005 and 2010. Altitude was determined by county of birth. The analysis included many factors including race, ethnicity, marital status, parity, prenatal visits, sex, birthweight, gestation, maternal age, education and smoking status, paternal age and race, and live birth order. Of these over 25 million births, there were 23,673 SIDS deaths. For the 9,245 mothers giving birth at over 8000 feet there were 10 SIDS deaths in 6 years.

Although this is twice the rate o f SIDS at lower altitude, it is still a very small number.  It is possible that hypoxia is a contributing factor, since low oxygen can cause apnea, but there is no research on this. Meanwhile parents are urged to place their babies on their backs to sleep and remove all soft material from the sleep area.

Acclimation, Health, High Altitude, High Altitude Training & Fitness, Medicine, Mountaineering, Technology

Does sleeping on oxygen at high altitude improve athletic performance?

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I have read many scientific studies on athletic performance at altitude. Active high altitude residents are always looking for ways to improve. As we age we experience a loss of speed and endurance, even with regular training. Some of this is inevitable, but how can we know if there is something else affecting our fitness?

I started sleeping on oxygen 9 months ago because of high blood pressure, which was instantly cured. Now I find that my strength and endurance have improved during the last few months. For example, I was rowing 13400 meters per hour with several brief pauses last fall, and now I am at an all-time high of 14100 m per hour with one pause. My running feels better, I’m back up to 6 miles from 4.

There are other factors that could influence this. In 2012-2013 I was on 17 pills including prednisone and had four surgeries for tongue cancer and myasthenia gravis. I was able to continue working out daily although part of that was less intense, such as yoga. I also had rotator cuff surgery. So my current fitness improvement could just be a rebound from overcoming those health conditions.

The only way to know for sure is to do a randomized controlled double blind study of athletes performance on and off nightly oxygen, or study the same athlete with and without oxygen. This is not an immediate effect, so months or years of observation and measurements would be needed.

In the meantime, if you live above 2500 meters/9000 feet and are losing stamina or strength consider having a night time pulse oximetry test to check for hypoxia during sleep.