THE IMPACT OF HYPOBARIC VERSUS HYPOXIC HYPOXIA TRAINING IN ELEVEN HIGH PERFORMANCE MILITARY PILOTS
A. Macovei and D. Popescu National Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bucharest, Romania
AEROSPACE MEDICINE AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE Vol. 87, No. 3 March 2016
INTRODUCTION: page 277 or physical page 19
Recently, the new modality of physiological training has emerged from the research labs into the specific market. The reduced oxygen breathing devices (ROBD) have the potential to enhance and/or replace our current hypoxia training altitude chamber.
METHODS:
A total of 11 experienced high performance pilots had undergone physiological training in the hypobaric facility of The National Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bucharest, Romania. All pilots were fighter pilots, currently flying the MiG 21 LanceR fighter. Two days after the chamber profile, the pilots volunteered to take the ROBD hypoxia test. The ROBD profile was a two-step (3500m, 7500m) ascent to 7500 m over 3 minutes. The ROBD is a high-grade commercially available medical device, certified for use on humans. The ROBD device software had the ability to perform psychometric testing built in.
RESULTS:
There were generally more symptoms reported in the ROBD. Most recognized symptoms were the mental and motor skills category. Statistically, there were no significant differences for symptoms distribution, p value ranging from 0.06 to 0.6, except for the mental symptom reporting (p=0.018, Z=2,36). Recorded variations in heart rate differed significantly with a Z of 2.80 and a p of 0.004. Recorded oxygen saturation did significantly differ for the two setups, at 7500 meters in chamber and in ROBD with a Z of 2.40 and a p of 0.015.
DISCUSSION:
At debriefing, all pilots reported that it was harder to cope with hypoxia with ROBD than in the chamber. This was borne out by the greater number of symptoms with ROBD. Although air hunger might have been a factor, all the pilots gave negative responses to this issue. Our results give the general impression off adding value for training over the normal altitude chamber training. The ability to take motor coordination skills in the hypoxic environment was most appreciated by pilots. The ROBD simulation managed to drop the oxygen saturation lower than for the chamber for most cases (10 out of 11) with marked effect for some cases. The ROBD training is not without peril. We did not encounter any medical issues with our subjects, both in chamber or on ROBD, but there are case reports in the literature.
CONCLUSION:
Optimal hypoxia training can still be best realized in an altitude chamber. However, ROBD training is a reasonable alternative if costs preclude altitude chamber facilities. Learning Objectives: 1. The participant will be able to figure out the role of a reduced oxygen breathing device in physiological training. 2. The participant will learn of commonly perceived hypoxia symptoms.
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