Effects of moderate alcohol consumption and hypobaric hypoxia: implications for passengers' sleep, oxygen saturation and heart rate on long-haul flights.

Background: Passengers on long-haul flights frequently consume alcohol. Inflight sleep exacerbates the fall in blood oxygen saturation (SpO) caused by the decreased oxygen partial pressure in the cabin. We investigated the combined influence of alcohol and hypobaric hypoxia on sleep, SpO and heart rate.