Perinatal origins of chronic mountain sickness : the role of perinatal hypoxia in the development of CMS

Abstract

Chronic mountain sickness (CMS) is a significant public health problem for the more than 140 million persons residing at high altitudes (>2500 m) yet its etiology remains incompletely urderstood because, in part, the effects of normal aging obscure the identification of causal factors. Excessive erythrocytosis (EE, Hb> 18.3 g/dL) has been shown, with time, to lead to CMS and therefore a preclinical form of CMS. We hypothesized that perinatal hypoxia increased susceptibility to CMS by impairingdevelopment of pulmonary structure and/or respiratory control.