生活在高海拔地區(qū)的人與中風的關系

Could living at high altitudes affect your chance of suffering a stroke? This intriguing question is at the heart of a new study in open-access journal Frontiers in Physiology.

生活在高海拔地區(qū)會影響你中風的幾率嗎?這個有趣的問題是《生理學前沿》開放獲取期刊上一項新研究的核心。

The study is the first to examine the incidence of stroke-related hospitalization and death in people living at four different elevations in Ecuador, and includes data gathered over 17 years on more than 100,000 stroke patients. Strikingly, the study finds that people living at higher altitudes have a lower risk of stroke and stroke-related death, and that this protective effect is strongest at between 2,000 and 3,500 meters.

這項研究首次調查了厄瓜多爾四個不同海拔地區(qū)人群中風相關住院和死亡的發(fā)生率，包括17年來收集的100000多名中風患者的數據。令人驚訝的是，這項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，生活在高海拔地區(qū)的人患中風和中風相關死亡的風險更低，這種保護作用在2000至3500米之間最強。

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. A stroke typically occurs because of a blockage, such as a blood clot, in one of the arteries supplying blood to or within the brain. You may be familiar with some of the most common lifestyle and health factors that contribute to stroke risk, including smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and lack of physical activity. However, there is another overlooked factor that could also affect your stroke risk – altitude.

中風是全世界死亡和殘疾的主要原因。中風通常是由于向大腦供血或在大腦內供血的動脈之一發(fā)生堵塞，如血凝塊。你可能熟悉導致中風風險的一些最常見的生活方式和健康因素，包括吸煙、高血壓、高膽固醇和缺乏體力活動。然而，還有一個被忽視的因素也可能影響你的中風風險——海拔高度。

Higher altitude means less oxygen availability, so people who have lived on higher ground have adapted to these conditions. However, how this environment affects someone's chances of developing stroke is still unclear. Anecdotal evidence suggests that short-term exposure to low oxygen can contribute to increased blood clotting and stroke risk, but the risk among people who permanently live at high altitude is not clear.

海拔越高意味著氧氣供應量越少，所以居住在海拔較高地區(qū)的人們已經適應了這些條件。然而，這種環(huán)境如何影響某人患中風的幾率尚不清楚。傳聞證據表明，短期暴露在低氧環(huán)境下會增加血液凝結和中風的風險，但長期生活在高海拔地區(qū)的人的風險尚不清楚。

Researchers in Ecuador are in a unique position to explore these phenomena, as the presence of the Ecuadorian Andes means that people in the country live at a wide array of altitudes.

厄瓜多爾的研究人員在探索這些現(xiàn)象方面處于獨特的地位，因為厄瓜多爾安第斯山脈的存在意味著該國人民生活在不同的海拔高度。

The main motivation of our work was to raise awareness of a problem that is very little explored. That is, more than 160m people live above 2,500 meters and there is very little information regarding epidemiological differences in terms of stroke at altitude. We wanted to contribute to new knowledge in this population that is often considered to be the same as the population living at sea level, and from a physiological point of view we are very different."

我們工作的主要動機是提高人們對一個很少探討的問題的認識。也就是說，超過1.6億人生活在2500米以上，關于海拔高度中風的流行病學差異的信息非常少。我們希望為這一人群提供新的知識，這一人群通常被認為與生活在海平面上的人群相同，但從生理學角度來看，我們非常不同。”

Esteban Ortiz-Prado, Study Lead Author and Professor, Universidad de las Americas

埃斯特班·奧爾蒂斯-普拉多，美洲大學首席作者和教授