Tests hope to help people get used to high altitudes

MOUNT CHO OYU BASE CAMP — While working at a base camp at the foot of Mount Cho Oyu, the sixth-highest mountain in the world with an altitude of 8,201 meters, Zhu Tong, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, took a reactivity test.

At the 4,950-meter-high camp, the academician wore a helmet connected to a computer. The screen occasionally featured words describing colors such as "red", "yellow" or "green", but in a different color than the meaning of the word. However, when Zhu saw the word "red" displayed in blue, he chose the correct color of blue instead of the meaning of the word. "I happen to be one of those who rushed into the plateau region," said Zhu, who was conducting an experiment with volunteers to reveal more about the reactivity of people who are used to living in a high-altitude environment and those who are new to it.

After people from low-altitude areas enter a plateau area quickly, they are exposed to unfamiliar low-pressure and hypoxic environments and can be easily affected by acute high-altitude diseases such as pulmonary edema.

Zhu's team had previously monitored the health conditions of people approaching Mount Qomolangma — also known as Mount Everest, the world's highest peak — at altitudes of 5,200, 5,800, 6,350 and 8,848 meters. This time, the team focused on other experiments such as reactivity at more altitudes on Mount Cho Oyu to collect additional data.

"As you rise in altitude, your body will change accordingly, which makes this intuitive data valuable," said Zhu, 60.

The team collected blood, urine, saliva, feces and other samples, measured blood pressure and monitored the pulse wave velocity of the volunteers, including Zhu himself, to provide samples for follow-up research.

The 2023 Mount Cho Oyu expedition is part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau initiated in 2017.

"We are still collecting and organizing the data," Zhu said. "Many results from the expedition will hopefully provide useful prevention and protection measures for short-term visitors to high-altitude areas."

Xinhua