Aging, Tolerance to High Altitude, and Cardiorespiratory Response to Hypoxia

Richalet, Jean-Paul, and François J. Lhuissier. Aging, tolerance to high altitude, and cardiorespiratory response to hypoxia. High Alt Med Biol. 16:117-124, 2015.--It is generally accepted that aging is rather protective, at least at moderate altitude. Some anecdotal reports even mention successful ascent of peaks over 8000 m and even Everest by elderly people. However, very few studies have explored the influence of aging on tolerance to high altitude and prevalence of acute high altitude related diseases, taking into account all confounding factors such as speed of ascent, altitude reached, sex, training status, and chemo-responsiveness. Changes in physiological responses to hypoxia with aging were assessed through a cross-sectional 20-year study including 4675 subjects (2789 men, 1886 women; 14-85 yrs old) and a longitudinal study including 30 subjects explored at a mean 10.4-year interval. In men, ventilatory response to hypoxia increased, while desaturation was less pronounced with aging. Cardiac response to hypoxia was blunted with aging in both genders. Similar results were found in the longitudinal study, with a decrease in cardiac and an increase in ventilatory response to hypoxia with aging. These adaptive responses were less pronounced or absent in post-menopausal untrained women. In conclusion, in normal healthy and active subjects, aging has no deleterious effect on cardiac and ventilatory responses to hypoxia, at least up to the eighth decade. Aging is not a contraindication for high altitude, as far as no pathological condition interferes and physical fitness is compatible with the intensity of the expected physical demand of one's individual. Physiological evaluation through hypoxic exercise testing before going to high altitude is helpful to detect risk factors of severe high altitude-related diseases.