title: The genetics of altitude tolerance: the evidence for inherited susceptibility to acute mountain sickness.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acute mountain sickness (AMS) has become a significant environmental health issue as improvements in transportation, "environmental tourism," and resource development lure more people to the highlands. Whether there is a genetic contribution to AMS susceptibility is a central question in high-altitude medicine. This article provides a systematic review of the evidence supporting such an innate predisposition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Scientific literature databases were screened using the terms "acute mountain sickness/AMS" and "altitude illness" combined with the terms "DNA," "gene," "genetic," or "polymorphism."
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen genes from a variety of pathways have been tested for association with AMS and variants in eight showed positive associations suggesting that AMS is an environmentally mediated polygenic disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data suggest that genotype contributes to capacity to rapidly and efficiently acclimatize to altitude; nevertheless, the mechanisms by which this occurs have yet to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: MacInnis
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Koehle
authors.forename: Jim L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rupert
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization / Q000235:genetics; D000208:Acute Disease; D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000235:genetics; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation / Q000235:genetics; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000235:genetics