title: Medication Use Among Mount Everest Climbers: Practice and Attitudes.
abstract: Luks, Andrew M., Colin Grissom, Luanne Freer, and Peter Hackett. Medication use among mount Everest climbers: practice and attitudes. High Alt Med Biol. 17:315-322, 2016.-The lay public, media, and medical experts have expressed concern about the ethics of climbers using medications to improve performance and increase the odds of summit success while climbing at high altitude, but the true incidence of this practice remains unclear. We conducted an anonymous survey of climbers who have attempted to climb Mt. Everest to gather information about medication use and attitudes toward medication and supplemental oxygen use while climbing the mountain. One hundred eighty-seven individuals completed the survey, providing information about medication and oxygen use for 262 expeditions to Mt. Everest between 1963 and 2015, the majority of which occurred after the year 2000. The majority of respondents were male (82%) and from English-speaking countries (75%). Medications were used on 43% of climbs, with acetazolamide being the most commonly used medication. Reported use of dexamethasone, nifedipine, sildenafil, or tadalafil was uncommon as was use of multiple medications at the same time. The majority of respondents indicated that it was acceptable for climbers to use medications and supplemental oxygen to prevent altitude illness while climbing Mt. Everest. Opinions were more mixed regarding whether summiting without the use of medications or oxygen carried the same value as reaching the summit using those interventions. Our data suggest that less than one-half of Mt. Everest climbers use medications during their expedition, with the primary medication used being acetazolamide, for prevention of altitude illness. Given the limitations of the study design and preliminary nature of these data, further research is warranted to further clarify these issues.
authors.affiliation: 1 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington , Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Luks
authors.affiliation: 2 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Intermountain Medical Center and the University of Utah , Salt Lake City, Utah.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grissom
authors.affiliation: 3 Yellowstone National Park , Bozeman, Montana.|4 Himalayan Rescue Association Everest Base Camp Medical Clinic , Nepal .
authors.forename: Luanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Freer
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado , Denver, Colorado.|6 Institute for Altitude Medicine , Telluride, Colorado.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hackett
mesh_terms: D000086:Acetazolamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D000531:Altitude; D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005101:Expeditions / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000523:psychology*; D009390:Nepal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D000086:Acetazolamide
keywords: Mt. Everest; acetazolamide; acute mountain sickness; dexamethasone; high altitude medicine