Effects of acetazolamide on exercise performance in patients with COPD going to high altitude: randomised controlled trial.

Background: In patients with COPD, preventive treatment with acetazolamide reduces adverse health effects during altitude travel. We investigated whether preventive acetazolamide treatment modifies exercise performance in COPD patients going to high altitude.

Methods: In this randomised, double-blind trial, lowlanders with COPD, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) 40-80% predicted, were assigned to acetazolamide (375 mg per 24 h) or placebo treatment starting 24 h before ascent and while staying at 3100 m.

Sex-Specific Difference in Health-Related Altitude-Effects and Their Prevention by Acetazolamide. Data from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Häfliger, Alina, Aline Buergin, Laura C. Mayer, Maamed Mademilov, Mona Lichtblau, Talantbek Sooronbaev, Silvia Ulrich, Konrad E. Bloch, and Michael Furian.

Effect of altitude and acetazolamide on postural control in healthy lowlanders 40 years of age or older. Randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Hypoxia and old age impair postural control and may therefore enhance the risk of accidents. We investigated whether acetazolamide, the recommended drug for prevention of acute mountain sickness, may prevent altitude-induced deterioration of postural control in older persons. In this parallel-design trial, 95 healthy volunteers, 40 years of age or older, living <1,000 m, were randomized to preventive therapy with acetazolamide (375 mg/d) or placebo starting 24 h before and during a 2-day sojourn at 3,100 m.

Effect of acetazolamide on pulmonary vascular haemodynamics in patients with COPD going to altitude: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

Background: COPD may predispose to symptomatic pulmonary hypertension at high altitude. We investigated haemodynamic changes in lowlanders with COPD ascending to 3100 m and evaluated whether preventive acetazolamide treatment would attenuate the altitude-induced increase in pulmonary artery pressure (PAP).

Methods: In this randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group trial, patients with COPD Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease grades 2-3 who were living <800 m and had peripheral oxygen saturation ( ) >92% and arterial carbon dioxide tension <6 kPa were randomised to receive either acetazolamide (125-250 mg·day) or placebo capsules, starting 24 h before ascent from 760 m and during a 2-day stay at 3100 m.

Effect of Acetazolamide on Postural Control in Patients with COPD Travelling to 3100 m Randomized Trial.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be susceptible to impairments in postural control (PC) when exposed to hypoxia at high altitude. This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-design trial evaluated the effect of preventive acetazolamide treatment on PC in lowlanders with COPD traveling to 3100 m. 127 lowlanders (85 men, 42 women) with moderate to severe COPD, aged 57 ± 8 y, living below 800 m, were randomized to treatment with acetazolamide 375 mg/d starting 24 h before ascent from 760 m to 3100 m and during a 2-day sojourn in a clinic at 3100 m.