Key result
Breathing hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion prevented presyncope during head-up tilt testing, which occurred in 3 of 10 subjects after air water immersion alone.
Why the study?
Does breathing hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion improve post-immersion cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress in healthy men?
Does breathing hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion improve post-immersion cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress in healthy men?
Breathing hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion may enhance post-immersion cardiovascular compensatory responses to orthostatic stress, potentially preventing orthostatic intolerance.
Does not support practice change for presyncope prevention; leaves open hyperbaric oxygen's role in immersion orthostasis pending larger trials.
Physiological compensation to postural stress is weakened after long-duration water immersion (WI), thus predisposing individuals to orthostatic intolerance. This study was conducted to compare hemodynamic responses to postural stress following exposure to WI alone (Air WI), hyperbaric oxygen alone in a hyperbaric chamber (O2 HC), and WI combined with hyperbaric oxygen (O2 WI), all at a depth of 1.35 ATA, and to determine whether hyperbaric oxygen is protective of orthostatic tolerance. Thirty-two healthy men underwent up to 15 min of 70° head-up tilt (HUT) testing before and after a single 6-h resting exposure to Air WI (N = 10), O2 HC (N = 12), or O2 WI (N = 10). Heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), cardiac output (Q), stroke volume (SV), forearm blood flow (FBF), and systemic and forearm vascular resistance (SVR and FVR) were measured. Although all subjects completed HUT before Air WI, three subjects reached presyncope after Air WI exposure at 10.4, 9.4, and 6.9 min. HUT time did not change after O2 WI or O2 HC exposures. Compared to preexposure responses, HR increased (+10 and +17%) and systolic BP (−13 and −8%), and SV (−16 and −23%) decreased during HUT after Air WI and O2 WI, respectively. In contrast, HR and SV did not change, and systolic (+5%) and diastolic BP (+10%) increased after O2 HC. Q decreased (−13 and −7%) and SVR increased (+12 and +20%) after O2 WI and O2 HC, respectively, whereas SVR decreased (−9%) after Air WI. Opposite patterns were evident following Air WI and O2 HC for FBF (−26 and +52%) and FVR (+28 and −30%). Therefore, breathing hyperbaric oxygen during WI may enhance post-WI cardiovascular compensatory responses to orthostatic stress.
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Florian et al. (2016) studied Orthostatic intolerance (n=32). Hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion (O2 WI) vs. Air water immersion (Air WI) and hyperbaric oxygen alone (O2 HC) was evaluated on Hemodynamic responses to postural stress (70° head-up tilt testing). Breathing hyperbaric oxygen during water immersion prevented presyncope during head-up tilt testing, which occurred in 3 of 10 subjects after air water immersion alone.
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