Altitude medicine and physiology including heat and cold: a review

With increasing numbers of people travelling to high altitude destinations for recreation or work, there is a need for practitioners of Travel Medicine to be familiar with altitude illnesses and the physiology of altitude. In mountainous areas travellers may also be exposed to problems of heat and cold. This article reviews these topics and gives practical advice on the management of the clinical problems involved, together with a discussion of underlying mechanisms, as far as they are understood at present.