ArticleSleep2016
Adaptation to Life in the High Andes: Nocturnal Oxyhemoglobin Saturation in Early Development.
Article in Sleep, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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.
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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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Breathing Patterns and Oxygenation Saturation During Sleep in Children Habitually Living at High Altitude in the Andes: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Detrimental Effects of Hypoxia on Cognitive Function: Adaptations, Challenges, and Resilience in Andean Populations.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in children with obstructive sleep apnea living at high altitude.Sleep medicine: X · 2024Article
- The Brain at High Altitude: From Molecular Signaling to Cognitive Performance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Article
- Sleep, short-term memory, and mood states of volunteers with increasing altitude.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Review
- Early Detection with Pulse Oximetry of Hypoxemic Neonatal Conditions. Development of the IX Clinical Consensus Statement of the Ibero-American Society of Neonatology (SIBEN).International journal of neonatal screening · 2018Article
- Comparison of Subjective Sleep Quality of Long-Term Residents at Low and High Altitudes: SARAHA Study.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2018Article
- Measuring high-altitude adaptation.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2017Review
- Article
- Polysomnography in Bolivian Children Native to High Altitude Compared to Children Native to Low Altitude.Sleep · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 10 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesPhysiological adaptation to high altitude hypoxia may be impaired in Andeans with significant European ancestry. The respiratory 'burden' of sleep may challenge adaptation, leading to relative nocturnal hypoxia. Developmental aspects of sleep-related breathing in high-altitude native children have not previously been reported. We aimed to determine the influence of development on diurnal-nocturnal oxyhemoglobin differences in children living at high altitude.
methodsThis was a cross-sectional, observational study. Seventy-five healthy Bolivian children aged 6 mo to 17 y, native to low altitude (500 m), moderate high altitude (2,500 m), and high altitude (3,700 m) were recruited. Daytime resting pulse oximetry was compared to overnight recordings using Masimo radical oximeters. Genetic ancestry was determined from DNA samples.
resultsChildren had mixed European/Amerindian ancestry, with no significant differences between altitudes. Sixty-two participants had ≥ 5 h of nocturnal, artifact-free data. As predicted, diurnal mean oxyhemoglobin saturation decreased across altitudes (infants and children, both P < 0.001), with lowest diurnal values at high altitude in infants. At high altitude, there was a greater drop in nocturnal mean oxyhemoglobin saturation (infants, P < 0.001; children, P = 0.039) and an increase in variability (all P ≤ 0.001) compared to low altitude. Importantly, diurnal to nocturnal altitude differences diminished (P = 0.036), from infancy to childhood, with no further change during adolescence.
conclusionsPhysiological adaptation to high-altitude living in native Andeans is unlikely to compensate for the significant differences we observed between diurnal and nocturnal oxyhemoglobin saturation, most marked in infancy. This vulnerability to sleep-related hypoxia in early childhood has potential lifespan implications. Future studies should characterize the sleep- related respiratory physiology underpinning our observations.
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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.