ArticlePloS one2015
Impaired postural control in healthy men at moderate altitude (1630 m and 2590 m): data from a randomized trial.
Article in PloS one, 2015. 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 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Sleep, Breathing and Psychomotor Performance at Altitude: A Physiologic Study in Healthy Subjects
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Hypoxia and standing balance.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Pooled it
- Thermoregulatory responses of elite ski mountaineers during simulated races under cold, hypoxic conditions.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Incremental ascent to 4300 m does not alter standing balance in lowlanders or Tibetan highlanders.European journal of applied physiology · 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
- Association between Gait Speed and Balance Disorders in Older Adults from 12 High Andean Peruvian Communities, 2013-2019.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2024Article
- The effects of acute normobaric hypoxia on standing balance while dual-tasking with and without visual input.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Article
- Effect of Acetazolamide on Postural Control in Patients with COPD Travelling to 3100 m Randomized Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Effect of altitude and acetazolamide on postural control in healthy lowlanders 40 years of age or older. Randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Acute Exposure to Normobaric Hypoxia Impairs Balance Performance in Sub-elite but Not Elite Basketball Players.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- The effect of atmospheric pressure on oxygen saturation and dyspnea: the Tromsø study.International journal of biometeorology · 2020Article
- Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Training Combined With Cyclic Hypoxia on Bone Mineral Density in Elderly People.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- Article
- Postural Control in Lowlanders With COPD Traveling to 3100 m: Data From a Randomized Trial Evaluating the Effect of Preventive Dexamethasone Treatment.Frontiers in physiology · 2018Article
- Feasibility of using normobaric hypoxic stress in mTBI research.Concussion (London, England) · 2017Review
- Motor-cognitive dual-tasking under hypoxia.Experimental brain research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIntact postural control is essential for safe performance of mountain sports, operation of machinery at altitude, and for piloting airplanes. We tested whether exposure to hypobaric hypoxia at moderate altitude impairs the static postural control of healthy subjects.
methodsIn 51 healthy men, median age 24 y (quartiles 20;28), static control was evaluated on a balance platform in Zurich, 490 m, and during a 4-day sojourn in Swiss mountain villages at 1630 m and 2590 m, 2 days each. The order of altitude exposure was randomized. Total center of pressure path length (COPL) and sway amplitude measured in two directions by a balance platform, and pulse oximetry were recorded. Data were compared between altitudes.
resultsMedian (quartiles) COPL during standing on both legs with eyes open at 490 m and in the evenings on the first and second days at 1630 and 2590 m, respectively were: 50 (45;57), 55 (48;62), 56 (49;61), 53 (47;59), 54 (48;60) cm, P<0.001 ANOVA. Corresponding arterial oxygen saturation was 97% (96;97), 95% (94;96), 95%(94;96), 92%(90;93), 93%(91;93), P<0.001. Anterior-posterior sway amplitudes were larger at 1630 and 2590 m compared to 490 m, P<0.001. Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed that higher altitudes (1630 and 2590m) were independently associated with increased COPL when controlled for the order of altitude exposure and age (P=0.001).
conclusionsExposure to 1630 and 2590m was associated with impaired static postural control even when visual references were available.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01130948.
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