Objective To compare the effects of oxygen therapy and local pressurization in alleviating plateau hypoxia at high altitude. Methods Forty-five healthy male soldiers were investigated at an altitude of 3992 meters. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups, ie. an oxygen inhalation group, a single-soldier oxygen increasing respirator ( SOIR) group and a BiPAP group. The oxygen inhalation group was treated with oxygen inhalation via nasal catheter at 2 L/ min. SOIR was used to assist breath in the SOIR group. The BiPAP group were treated with bi-level positive airway pressure ventilation, with IPAP of 10 cm H2O and EPAP of 4 cmH2 O. PaO2, PaCO2, SpO2 and heart rate were measured before and 30 minutes after the treatment. Results There were continuous increase of PaO2 from ( 53. 30 ±4. 88) mm Hg to( 58. 58 ±5. 05) mm Hg and ( 54. 43 ±3. 01) mm Hg to ( 91. 36 ±10. 99) mm Hg after BiPAP ventilation and oxygen inhalation, respectively ( both P lt; 0. 01) . However, the PaO2 of the SOIR group was decreased from( 56. 00 ±5. 75) mm Hg to ( 50. 82 ±5. 40) mm Hg( P lt; 0. 05 ) . In the other hand, the PaCO2 was increased from ( 30. 41 ±1. 51) mmHg to ( 32. 56 ±2. 98) mm Hg in the oxygen inhalation group ( P lt; 0. 05) , declined from( 28. 74 ±2. 91) mm Hg to ( 25. 82 ±4. 35) mm Hg in the BiPAP group( P lt;0. 05) ,and didn’t change significantly from( 28. 65 ±2. 78) mm Hg to ( 29. 75 ±3. 89) mmHg in the SOIR group ( P gt;0. 05) . Conclusions Both BiPAP ventilation and oxygen inhalation can alleviate plateau hypoxia by improving PaO2 at 3992 meter altitude while SOIR has no significant effect.
