Expression Of Plasma Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor In Acute Mountain Sickness

Objectives:Study the acute mountain sickness (AMS) morbidity, percutaneous blood oxygen saturation, heart rate and plasma vascular endothelial growth factor levels of people migrate from plain to plateau. Explore the relationship between plasma VEGF and AMS.Methods:Randomly selected2,000new recruited soldiers from Tibet armed police, who transferred from Chengdu(505.9m) to Lhasa(3650.0m) during2010.Gave them questionnaires, monitored their heart rate and SpO2both in Chengdu and Lhasa, and meanwhile extracted their venous blood, and the plasma was obtained by centrifugation (3000r/min for10minutes) within2hours, then reserved the plasma in-80℃fridge. In Lhasa, those whose Lake Louise questionnaire scores≥3were diagnosed as AMS patients. Whose scores<3were treated as controls. Selected107people randomly from the AMS patients as the AMS group, and selected another107people from controls as the control group. Used ELISA to detect the plasma VEGF levels of the soldiers in the two groups both in Chengdu and Lhasa.Results:644subjects had symptoms of AMS and1232subjects without symptoms of AMS(referred to as tolerant people)from2000subjects. in the study AMS incidence rate of35.76%.AMS Group SpO2from the plains of97.83±0.13%down to high altitude of83.72±0.23%(P<0.001),control group SpO2from98.45±0.70%plain down to high altitude of85.63±0.15%(P<0.001).AMS Group In the high altitude of SpO2significantly lower than the control group(P<0.05).AMS group heart rate from the plains of90±17beats/min to the high altitude of103±18beats/min, control group heart rate from the plains of88±19beats/min to the high altitude of105±19beats/min(P<0.001),AMS Group heart rate compared with the control group, no significant difference between in the high altitude. Plasma VEGF in AMS group is175.45±95.7pg/ml in plain, but increased to327.48±140.97pg/ml in plateau(P<0.01),while in control group232.62±170.25pg/ml in plain, but increased to214.37±110.02pg/ml in plateau (P>0.05).In plain, plasma VEGF in AMS group is significantly lower than control group (P<0.01)Conclusion:AMS morbidity constituent ratio is34.3%. While entering plateau rapidly, SpO? in AMS group and control group decrease notably compare with that in plain, AMS patient decreased more notably. Heart rate of AMS group and control group in plateau are both higher than in plain, but those two groups have no significant deviation. Plasma VEGF in AMS group is lower than control group in plain, but while entering plateau plasma VEGF obviously rises in AMS group, and much higher than control group. VEGF changes not obviously before and after entering plateau in control group. The change of VEGF level may play a role in the development of AMS.