The Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire in acute mountain sickness

Area of Science:

• Altitude Medicine and Physiology
• Environmental Health
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is a common condition affecting individuals at high altitudes.
• Accurate assessment of AMS symptoms is crucial for timely intervention and management.
• Existing assessment methods may have limitations in accessibility or patient self-reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of a modified Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire for assessing AMS.
• To determine the correlation between self-reported symptoms and clinically assessed AMS severity.
• To suggest improvements for the questionnaire's instructions and question phrasing.

Main Methods:

• A modified Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire was administered to participants.
• Participants completed the questionnaire for self-assessment of symptoms.
• Questionnaire scores were compared with AMS scores derived from clinical interviews.

Main Results:

• Self-reported scores for headache, nausea, and general ill health demonstrated strong correlation with clinical AMS assessments.
• The modified questionnaire proved to be a useful tool for symptom evaluation.
• Simple statistical methods were found to be as effective as factor analysis for this data.

Conclusions:

• The modified Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire is a valuable supplementary method for assessing acute mountain sickness.
• The questionnaire provides reliable data comparable to clinical interviews for key AMS symptoms.
• Refinements in instructions and question wording can further enhance the questionnaire's usability.