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'Dex' ups high altitude exercise capacity

Posted on: Thursday, 13 August 2009, 00:43 CDT

Taking dexamethasone, used in the treatment of high altitude cerebral edema, may improve exercise capacity in some mountaineers, Swiss researchers said.

Lead authors Dr. Manuel Fischler of the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and Hans-Peter Brunner-La Rocca, of the University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, recruited 23 mountaineers with a history of high altitude pulmonary edema and administered baseline cardiopulmonary exercise tests a low elevation at 1607 feet.

All participants were randomized to take either dexamethasone, tadalifil -- used to treat erectile dysfunction and approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension -- or placebo.

Subjects were tested for oxygen uptake kinetics by pedaling a stationary bike at a constant rate for six minutes, and then for exercise capacity by pedaling at 50 percent of their predicted maximum workload for one minute, and then increasing output by 25 percent each additional minute until exhaustion, usually after 8 to 12 minutes.

The study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found the climbers taking dexamethasone improved exercise capacity, oxygen uptake kinetics and decreased the anaerobic threshold.

Overall, this means that those climbers who took dex felt better, were able to do more, and probably experienced fewer altitude-related discomforts than both other groups, Fischler said in a statement.

Source: United Press International

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