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The topic has been very contentious. Partly this has to do with different patterns of training that have been used, and also there seem to be substantial individual differences between athletes. The optimal experimental design to answer the question has proved to be difficult to implement. In this issue, two experts on opposite sides of the fence summarize the best information that is currently available.
Happily, the Clinician's Corner feature in this issue also has to do with exercise and altitude. This time the knotty problem concerns teams who normally compete at sea level but are required to compete at high altitude. What policy should be adopted for the timing of their arrival at altitude and what period of acclimatization, if any, should be chosen? This is a potential issue in many areas of the world. I occasionally get telephone calls when the local American football team, the San Diego Chargers, are scheduled to play in the mile high city of Denver although many people would regard this as a puny altitude. Much bigger problems occur in South America when one of the football giants such as Brazil or Argentina is required to play in La Paz, Bolivia at an altitude around 3600 m.
The issue of football at high altitude in South America evoked an editorial in this Journal back in 2007. At that time the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced that international matches would be banned at altitudes over 2500 m. Naturally this decision caused consternation in Ecuador where the capital city Quito is at about 2800 m, in Colombia where the capital city Bogotá is at about 2640 m and also in Peru where there is a stadium at Cusco, altitude 3400 m. Subsequently FIFA changed their policy, partly in response to the strident objections of President Evo Morales in La Paz who is a football fan. It is easy to appreciate the political pressures responsible for a ban like this. Naturally visiting teams from near sea level are at a great disadvantage at these high altitudes.
At about this time Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, stated that “to play at above that altitude [2500 m] is not healthy or fair.” Actually the health risks are questionable, although perhaps one should be on the lookout for high altitude pulmonary edema. The issue of fairness however raises an interesting issue. Readers of this Journal are well aware that large numbers of people live at high altitude. In fact in one WHO study it was concluded that 140 million people live above 2500 m. This population has historically received less attention than it should have partly because of its generally low socio-economic status. One can certainly argue that high altitude populations have been discriminated against over a long period of time, certainly since the Spanish conquest of Peru in the sixteenth century, and possibly before.
Two other articles in this issue are worthy of mention now that I have the reader's eye. Bozzini and coworkers report impaired growth rate of bone in rats exposed to simulated high altitude. In another study, Ou and colleagues found compromised liver function in rats at simulated high altitude. These two organ symptoms have received scant attention in the past and further emphasize the broadness of our discipline.
Accelerated Publishing in High Altitude Medicine & Biology
Articles that are accepted for publication in High Altitude Medicine & Biology are now published online via a fast track procedure. Once the article is accepted it is put into production immediately, and page proofs will be sent to the author within 4–5 weeks. The article itself will be published online in High Altitude Medicine & Biology in 6–8 weeks. Once the article is published in this way the indexing organizations are notified, and the article will be cited on Medline, PubMed, Web of Science and other similar organizations. The article will also be published in the usual way in the next available issue of the Journal. This innovation should greatly help in alerting the scientific public to the article.