Effects of Hypobaric Hypoxia on Coagulation in Healthy Subjects Exposed to 3,500 m Altitude

Kammerer, Tobias, Anna Walzl, Thomas Müller, Philipp Groene, Giulia Roveri, Rachel Turner, Johanna Roche, Hannes Gatterer, Christoph Siebenmann, and Simon T. Schäfer. Effects of hypobaric hypoxia on coagulation in healthy subjects exposed to 3,500 m altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 24:94–103, 2023. Background: Hypoxia is discussed as a trigger for prothrombotic changes both in intensive care and high altitude medicine. This research study aimed to evaluate the effect of isolated hypobaric hypoxia (HH) on coagulation in females in a highly standardized setting. Methods: Twelve healthy female subjects were studied under HH (equivalent to 3,500 m) and normoxia (NX) during two 4-day sojourns, in a strictly controlled crossover design. Nutrition, fluid intake, hormonal status (i.e., menstrual cycle variation), and physical stress were standardized. Functional coagulation and blood lysis were measured by viscoelastometry and compared between HH and NX. In addition, plasma-based coagulation tests (PBCTs), namely prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, factor VIII coagulation activity (FVIII:C), von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF:Ag), and von Willebrand factor ristocetin cofactor activity (vWF:RCo) were measured. Results: Neither for Viscoelastic Haemostatic Assays nor for PBCTs significant changes were found for HH compared with NX (all p > 0.05). Specifically, the lysis ability, as well as clotting time, clot formation, clot amplitude, and maximum clot firmness unchanged were similar between HH and NX. This also applied to all other variables. Conclusion: We demonstrate that moderate HH per se has no influence on blood coagulation in healthy females.