Trial reportSleep2013
Are nocturnal breathing, sleep, and cognitive performance impaired at moderate altitude (1,630-2,590 m)?
Trial report in Sleep, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01130948 (Sleep, Breathing and Psychomotor Performance at Altitude), which is not on this map. Cited by 45 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Sleep, Breathing and Psychomotor Performance at Altitude: A Physiologic Study in Healthy Subjects
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Partial Pressure of Arterial Oxygen in Healthy Adults at High Altitudes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of short-term descent to low altitude in healthy residents at moderate altitude - a randomized crossover trial.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2026Trial
- A Single Night in Hypoxia Either with or without Ketone Ester Ingestion Reduces Sleep Quality without Impacting Next-Day Exercise Performance.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2025Trial
- Simulated Acute Hypobaric Hypoxia Effects on Cognition in Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Personnel - A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind, Crossover Trial.Human factors · 2024Trial
- Effect of Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy on Nocturnal Hypoxemia and Sleep Apnea Among Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Traveling to 2048 Meters: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2020Trial
- Effect of Dexamethasone on Nocturnal Oxygenation in Lowlanders With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Traveling to 3100 Meters: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2019Trial
- Blood pressure response to exposure to moderate altitude in patients with COPD.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2019Trial
- Impact of acetazolamide and CPAP on cortical activity in obstructive sleep apnea patients.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Exercise performance and symptoms in lowlanders with COPD ascending to moderate altitude: randomized trial.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseTrial
- Nocturnal Hypoxaemia in PAH Patients Living at High Altitude Relocated to Low Altitude.Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases · 2026Article
- High-altitude hypoxia alters the developmental trajectory of working memory in Tibetan children.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Sleep and nocturnal breathing of individuals working over 1-week periods at high altitude: a cross-sectional polysomnographic study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2025Article
- Respiratory acclimatization and psychomotor performance after rapid ascent and during 3 weeks at 3,100 m-A prospective cohort study in healthy individuals.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Sleeping on the edge: Adolescents living at moderate altitude report greater sleep need.Sleep medicine · 2024Article
- Discrepant home sleep apnea tests and discrepant CPAP downloads: a tale of two altitudes.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024Article
- A review of methods for assessment of cognitive function in high-altitude hypoxic environments.Brain and behavior · 2024Review
- Sleep at high altitude: A bibliometric study and visualization analysis from 1992 to 2022.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Sex-related Differences in Loop Gain during High-Altitude Sleep-disordered Breathing.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2023Article
- Altitude and Breathing during Sleep in Healthy Persons and Sleep Disordered Patients: A Systematic Review.Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesNewcomers at high altitude (> 3,000 m) experience periodic breathing, sleep disturbances, and impaired cognitive performance. Whether similar adverse effects occur at lower elevations is uncertain, although numerous lowlanders travel to moderate altitude for professional or recreational activities. We evaluated the hypothesis that nocturnal breathing, sleep, and cognitive performance of lowlanders are impaired at moderate altitude.
designRandomized crossover trial.
settingUniversity hospital at 490 m, Swiss mountain villages at 1,630 m and 2,590 m.
participantsFifty-one healthy men, median (quartiles) age 24 y (20-28 y), living below 800 m.
interventionsStudies at Zurich (490 m) and during 4 consecutive days at 1,630 m and 2,590 m, respectively, 2 days each. The order of altitude exposure was randomized. Polysomnography, psychomotor vigilance tests (PVT), the number back test, several other tests of cognitive performance, and questionnaires were evaluated. MEASUREMENTS AND
resultsThe median (quartiles) apnea-hypopnea index at 490 m was 4.6/h (2.3; 7.9), values at 1,630 and 2,590 m, day 1 and 2, respectively, were 7.0/h (4.1; 12.6), 5.4/h (3.5; 10.5), 13.1/h (6.7; 32.1), and 8.0/h (4.4; 23.1); corresponding values of mean nocturnal oxygen saturation were 96% (95; 96), 94% (93; 95), 94% (93; 95), 90% (89; 91), 91% (90; 92), P < 0.05 versus 490 m, all instances. Slow wave sleep on the first night at 2,590 m was 21% (18; 25) versus 24% (20; 27) at 490 m (P < 0.05). Psychomotor vigilance and various other measures of cognitive performance did not change significantly.
conclusionsHealthy men acutely exposed during 4 days to hypoxemia at 1,630 m and 2,590 m reveal a considerable amount of periodic breathing and sleep disturbances. However, no significant effects on psychomotor reaction speed or cognitive performance were observed. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01130948.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.