Can altitude increase have health impacts?

[ColeyG]

Wondering if going from living at 1000' or so to 5000'+ can have an impact on chronic sinus issues? or other health related issues?

What say U?

No.

The pressure difference between sea level and 5k in most parts of the country is less than 2psi/100mmhg.

That pressure change is insignificant and not enough to have any impact on our bodies perceived availability of O2 in the short or long term. The average person may notice breathing a little bit harder while exerting themselves and a slightly elevated heart rate as compared to their baseline for a few days at the new altitude, but most wouldn't notice much of a change.

Altitude starts to affect physiology more significantly above 8k and starts to get more serious above above 14k. I actually feel like my chronically occluded sinuses do better at lower pressure (higher altitude) as compared to higher pressure (lower altitude).

Other environmental factors in whatever your new locale is will be much more significant than the slight pressure change.

As for living at altitude negatively impacting long-term health and lifespan, I am not aware of any credible studies that have shown that to be the case. Counter to that notion would be the Sherpa people, most of whom are born above 16k, and who collectively have a higher life expectancy that the average American.

 

[Maverick1]

Plenty of people think they feel better when they go to the mountains and get high.

 

[Beendare]

Interesting thread....I heard years ago that living above 6500' shortens your lifespan...something about internal organs not getting as much oxygen. Must have been bogus.

 

[Marbles]

You guys got me curious. This is a decent summary of the data. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4113517/

My takeaway is that we don't really know. Altitude has a large selection bias as people who choose to live high likely differ from those who choose to live low in everything from culture and behavior to genetics. Far too many confounders and too little data.

US mortality data supports this. Basically , higher altitude is associated with longer life span in the US, but once difference that we already know effect lifespan are accounted for, it comes out even. https://jech.bmj.com/content/66/7/e17

Conclusions from observational data are always questionable. No real ethical way to randomly assign people to live at low or high altitude.

 

[ColeyG]

Interesting thread....I heard years ago that living above 6500' shortens your lifespan...something about internal organs not getting as much oxygen. Must have been bogus.

O2 in the blood/body is easily measured. Within a few days of arriving at 6500' anyone without underlying health problems would have an SpO2 of 98-100 just as they would at sea level.