Army researchers have introduced a new series of protocols that would help commanders and medical teams diagnose and treat acute mountain sickness. The inroads could help ensure that troops who deploy to high-altitude regions like Afghanistan remain fit to perform their missions. Acute mountain sickness sufferers experience nausea, fatigue, headache, gastrointestinal distress, caused by the lowering of oxygen supply to the body for prolonged periods of time. The research teams, attached to the Natick, Mass.-based U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine’s Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, spent two years on Colorado’s Pikes Peak studying the ill effects of altitude exposure among 70 male and female soldiers. Using the data they collected, the researchers developed what they call an Altitude Readiness Management System. The validated acute mountain sickness model gives commanders an idea of the probability that altitude sickness could occur. The altitude-acclimatization model provides commanders with a means to mitigate the potential risk. Commanders will have access to the system through their wristwatch, GPS system, or smartphone.
