A Proposal to Study Gender Differences in the Rates of Decompression Sickness

Abstract

Decompression sickness is the clinical syndrome associated with evolution of nitrogen bubbles in the blood and body tissues upon exposure to an acute reduction in barometric pressure. Because nitrogen is more soluble in fatty substances than in water, adiposity has long been considered a risk factor for the development of decompression sickness. Due to the physiologic differences between the sexes, women have an average eight per cent more body fat than men, so it is possible that women have a greater likelihood of developing decompression sickness. Several studies in the scientific literature seem to support this hypothesis, but they have been associated with such drawbacks as selection and reporting bias, retrospective approach, and the lack of an objective diagnostic modality for the syndrome of decompression sickness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 02, 1994
Accession Number
ADA281854

Entities

People

  • Gregg A. Bendrick

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Personnel
  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude Chambers
  • Barometric Pressure
  • Data Analysis
  • Decompression Sickness
  • Flight Training
  • High Altitude
  • Hyperbaric Chambers
  • Information Science
  • Medical Personnel
  • Partial Pressure
  • Personnel Management
  • Physical Examination (Medicine)
  • Public Health
  • Surveys

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Exercise and Sports Science.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Underwater engineering and Marine Technology.