Clinical & Experimental Cardiology
Open Access

Abstract

Downhill Skiing: A Putative Model of Hypoxia Preconditioning?

Martin Burtscher

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) represents the leading non-traumatic death during downhill skiing, the most popular winter sport worldwide. Remarkably, about 50% of all SCDs happened on the first skiing day particularly when the preceding sleeping altitude was low. From these observations it may be inferred that the SCD risk can be modified by short-term adaptation, i.e. hypoxia preconditioning (HP). Downhill skiing at moderate or high altitude may represent a unique model of HP. In fact, analyses of our data on SCDs in male downhill skiers are consistent with an episode of early protection for about 3 hours and a subsequent vulnerable episode during the first skiing day at altitudes at or above 1700 m.