ArticleThe international journal of cardiovascular imaging2015
Left ventricular adaptation to high altitude: speckle tracking echocardiography in lowlanders, healthy highlanders and highlanders with chronic mountain sickness.
Article in The international journal of cardiovascular imaging, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Change in pulmonary artery pressure upon acute exposure to high altitude: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Pooled it
- Right Ventricular Response to Acute Hypoxia Exposure: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Pooled it
- The independent effects of hypovolaemia and pulmonary vasoconstriction on ventricular function and exercise capacity during acclimatisation to 3800 m.The Journal of physiology · 2019Trial
- Association between baseline blood pressure variability and cardiac mechanics and electrophysiology after acute exposure to high altitude.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Article
- Right Ventricular Free Wall Strain in Healthy Lowlanders and Highlanders-A Case-Control Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- High altitudes, deeper insights: multicenter cardiovascular magnetic resonance study on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.European radiology · 2025Article
- Increased Global Post-Systolic Contraction During 1st Interstage Predicts Medium-Term Death or Transplantation in Children With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- The impact of high-altitude migration on cardiac structure and function: a 1-year prospective study.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- Cardiovascular indicators associated with ventricular remodeling in chronic high-altitude disease: a cardiovascular MRI study.European radiology · 2023Article
- A change of heart: Mechanisms of cardiac adaptation to acute and chronic hypoxia.The Journal of physiology · 2022Article
- The right ventricle of transplanted hearts at 2,640 meters above sea level. A latin-american experience.Archivos de cardiologia de Mexico · 2022Article
- Article
- Atrial performance in healthy subjects following high altitude exposure at 4100 m: 2D speckle-tracking strain analysis.The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2021Article
- Influence of altitude on hypertension phenotypes and responses to antihypertensive therapy: Review of the literature and design of the INTERVENCION trial.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2020Review
- Systemic Hypertension at High Altitude.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2018Review
- Response by Bhatnagar to Letter Regarding Article, "Environmental Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease".Circulation research · 2017Article
- Cardiovascular imaging 2015 in the International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging.The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hypoxic exposure depresses myocardial contractility in vitro, but has been associated with indices of increased cardiac performance in intact animals and in humans, possibly related to sympathetic nervous system activation. We explored left ventricular (LV) function using speckle tracking echocardiography and sympathetic tone by spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) in recently acclimatized lowlanders versus adapted or maladapted highlanders at high altitude. Twenty-six recently acclimatized lowlanders, 14 healthy highlanders and 12 highlanders with chronic mountain sickness (CMS) were studied. Control measurements at sea level were also obtained in the lowlanders. Altitude exposure in the lowlanders was associated with slightly increased blood pressure, decreased LV volumes and decreased longitudinal strain with a trend to increased prevalence of post-systolic shortening (p = 0.06), whereas the low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) ratio increased (1.62 ± 0.81 vs. 5.08 ± 4.13, p < 0.05) indicating sympathetic activation. Highlanders had a similarly raised LF/HF ratio, but no alteration in LV deformation. Highlanders with CMS had no change in LV deformation, no significant increase in LF/HF, but decreased global HRV still suggestive of increased sympathetic tone, and lower mitral E/A ratio compared to healthy highlanders. Short-term altitude exposure in lowlanders alters indices of LV systolic function and increases sympathetic nervous system tone. Life-long altitude exposure in highlanders is associated with similar sympathetic hyperactivity, but preserved parameters of LV function, whereas diastolic function may be altered in those with CMS. Altered LV systolic function in recently acclimatized lowlanders may be explained by combined effects of hypoxia and changes in loading conditions.
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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.