UKH

Looking For Climbers Who Have Attempted to Climb Mount Everest For An Anonymous Survey About Medication Use On the Mountain

Exposure to high altitude poses a risk of developing one of three forms of acute altitude illness: acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral edema and high altitude pulmonary edema. Medications are available to prevent these problems and are commonly used by travelers at moderate elevations (e.g., 3000-5000 m) for this purpose. Recent reports suggest that climbers traveling to extremely high elevations on Mount Everest and other peaks are also using these medications to improve physical performance and/or increase their odds of reaching the summit without developing altitude illness. Despite these reports, little is known about exactly how common these practices are.

We are conducting a research survey in order to estimate the number of climbers on Mount Everest who are using medications in this manner. People who have attempted to climb Mount Everest – whether they were successful in summiting or not – are eligible to participate. Note that this survey is not for people who have only trekked to Everest Base Camp. It is for people who have attempted to climb the mountain. If are eligible and choose to participate, you will find a link to the anonymous on-line survey at the bottom of this email. The survey will less than 20 minutes to complete and does not require you to provide any personal information.

Participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any question in the survey. All of the information you provide in the survey will remain anonymous and no one will be able to identify you from the information you provide in the survey. Although you will not benefit directly from this survey, we anticipate that information learned from the survey will help guide medical practice with regard to climbers on Mount Everest and other large Himalayan mountains.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at aluks@u.washington.edu, although please be reminded that the confidentiality of emails cannot be guaranteed. We appreciate your time and effort in completing this survey and look forward to reviewing the information you provide.

Click here to complete this survey: https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/aluks/252982

If the link does not work, you can copy and paste it in your web browser.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLICK ON "SUBMIT" AT THE END OF THE SURVEY TO ENSURE THAT YOUR ANSWERS ARE ALL SAVED PROPERLY.

Sincerely,

Andrew M. Luks, MD
Associate Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Washington

Luanne Freer, MD
Everest ER
Himalayan Rescue Association

Colin Grissom, MD
Professor of Medicine
University of Utah

Peter Hackett, MD
Institute for High Altitude Medicine
Telluride, Colorado

In reply to aluks:

Is there a reason its just Everest - surely any peak above x metres is suitable and would give you a wider population?

In reply to JamButty:

I would guess not. By controlling the group to one mountain you are comparing apples with apples - they're all going to the same height, on the same terrain, at the same time of year. It makes the individual results more comparable.

Around 1000 customers attempt Everest every year, not including the local workers. I haven't looked at recent tourist numbers, but that must be close to all the other Nepal 8000ers combined, so it gives the widest population, in one go.

Drugs like Dexamethasone and bottled oxygen are very rarely used below 8000m so that's even more reason to set the sample height so high. Also, Everest expeditions are more likely to have a doctor on the team, giving even greater control over what was prescribed and taken.