Every year, many families travel from lower to higher altitudes for various reasons, including work, religious trips, or fun activities like trekking or skiing. While most trips proceed without incident, some children may experience symptoms related to altitude sickness due to the change in altitude.
What is Altitude Sickness?
Recognizing Symptoms of Altitude Sickness in Children
Children may not exhibit the common symptoms of altitude sickness such as headache, nausea, or anorexia. Instead, parents should look for changes in normal behavior, like a reluctance to eat, difficulty sleeping, or unusual irritability. Other nonspecific symptoms include lethargy, food refusal, vomiting, and excessive crying, which can easily be mistaken for routine discomforts. If any child becomes unwell above 2500 meters, they should be considered to have developed acute altitude sickness and treated accordingly.
Children at Increased Risk of Altitude Sickness
- Past History of Altitude Sickness: If a child has experienced altitude sickness before, they are likely to experience it again.
- Rapid Ascent: Gradual ascents are recommended. The adage “Climb high, sleep low” is a good guideline to follow.
- Acute Illness: Children with upper airway or lung infections are more prone to serious complications at high altitudes.
- Heart Defects: Infants and children with congenital heart defects should be evaluated before traveling to high altitudes.
- Down Syndrome with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): Children with Down syndrome and OSA have a higher risk of hospitalization at altitudes above 1500 meters.
- Compromised Lung Function: Diseases like bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cystic fibrosis, severe scoliosis, and neuromuscular diseases increase the risk of altitude sickness.
- Very Young Infants: Infants less than six weeks old and babies born prematurely are at increased risk.
- Sickle Cell Disease: Children with sickle cell disease should avoid high altitudes due to the risk of crises.
- Asthma: Although higher altitudes might reduce allergen exposure, the cold air can still cause breathing difficulties.
Who Should Avoid High Altitudes?
- Infants less than six weeks old
- Babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy
- Children with congenital heart defects
- Children with pulmonary hypertension
- Children with sickle cell disease
- Children with Down syndrome and a cardiac shunt or OSA
- Children with active lung disease
Recommendations for Safe Ascent
Recovery and Prevention
Parental Awareness and Preparedness
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