Outside Magazine Highlights Larner Study on High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema
An article in Outside magazine about high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) mentioned a new study in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine by emergency medicine physicians from the University of Vermont (UVM) and colleagues in Argentina that identified two key risk factors for this leading cause of death on the highest mountain in the Americas.
Led by UVM Medical Center emergency medicine physician Andrew Park, D.O., M.P.H., a 2023–24 Wilderness Medicine fellow at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, the team analyzed characteristics of climbers diagnosed with HAPE on Mount Aconcagua, in Argentina—the highest mountain in the Americas at 22,838 feet and the highest mountain in the world outside Asia—during the month of January in 2024. They then compared the data to climbers who didn’t get HAPE and found some notable differences in how fast they climbed, how long they acclimatized to various stages of elevation, and what symptoms they displayed.
The UVM authors of the study included Park; UVM Medical Center emergency medicine physician Aaron Brillhart, M.D.; Sameer Sethi, M.D., assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Larner College of Medicine; and Sarah Schlein, M.D., Larner associate professor of emergency medicine.