This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The summit of Mauna Kea is of sufficient altitude to readily induce Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and yet it is visited by thousands of people every year and used year round for astronomical research. There has never been any data collected on the health effects occurring in the population that ascends to the summit. We propose to survey two populations who visit the summit: (1) Day visitors, mostly tourists, who ascend for a day or less, and (2) Astronomy staff workers who stay at intermediate altitude to sleep and then ascend to work at the summit, for variable periods of time. The information gathered will be useful to those who manage the mountain's resources to address safety issues, and to help plan clinical altitude research in the future. A standardized survey tool, the Lake Louise AMS survey, measures AMS symptoms and is used to determine if AMS is present and its severity. We have developed two surveys, and both incorporate the Lake Louise Survey within the instrument. Survey 1 is intended for day visitors, and Survey 2 for those who will be staying at the lodge at Hale Pohaku and ascending for longer times to work at the summit. This study is only a survey, and no clinical interventions will be carried out with the study population. Survey 1 will be offered to every automobile occupant ascending by the only access road, until sufficient numbers of surveys are returned. They would be collected as the automobiles descend past the same point. We would cease survey collection when 100 completed surveys had been returned. Survey 2 will be offered to all lodge guests at Hale Pohaku until at least 100 survey instruments have been returned. The surveys would be analyzed and reported separately, as they measure different clinical situat
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