Lung volume, chest size, and hematological variation in low-, medium-, andhigh-altitude Central Asian populations

To evaluate adaptive responses to high-altitude environment, we examined th ree groups of healthy adult males from Central Asia: 94 high-altitude (HA) Kirghiz subjects (3,200 m above sea level); 114 middle-altitude (MA) Kazakh subjects (2,100 m), and 90 low-altitude (LA) Kirghiz subjects (900 m). Dat a on chest size (chest perimeter and chest diameter), lung volume (forced e xpiratory volume (FEV) and forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1)), and h ematological parameters (hemoglobin, erythrocytes, hematocrit, and SaO(2)) are discussed. The results show that 1) chest shape is less flat in the sam ples living at higher altitude. In the HA sample, chest perimeter is lower but chest excursion is high. 2) In the highlanders, forced vital capacity ( FVC) and FEV1 are no higher than in the other samples, even when corrected for stature and body weight. The negative correlation between FVC-FEV1 and age decreases with increasing altitude. 3) The HA and MA samples have highe r values of hemoglobin, erythrocytes, and hematocrit. The HA sample has low er SaO(2) and higher arterial oxygen content than the LA sample. No associa tion between hematocrit and age was detected in the four samples. The resul ts indicate that the high-altitude Kirghiz present features of developmenta l. acclimatization to hypobaric hypoxia which are also strongly influenced by other major high-altitude environmental stresses. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, I nc.