94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1453700
This article is part of the Research Topic Impact of Environmental Factors on the Health of Children and Older Adults View all 6 articles
Clinical characteristics of pulmonary embolism at extremely high altitude: a single-center retrospective study
Provisionally accepted- General Hospital of Xinjiang Military Region, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
Background: Exposure to high altitude (HA) has been shown to significantly increase the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, the clinical characteristics of VTE at extremely high altitudes remain poorly understood. In this single-center retrospective study, we aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and prognoses of pulmonary embolism (PE) patients at extremely high altitudes with those at low altitudes (LA).Methods: This retrospective analysis focused on PE patients treated at the General Hospital of Xinjiang Military Command between November 1, 2019, and November 1, 2022. The high-altitude group (HA-Group) consisted of patients who sought medical treatment after they had fallen ill into the plateau area, and the low-altitude group (LA-Group) consisted of local residents.Results: We identified a total of 17 PE patients in the HA-Group and 62 patients in the LA-Group. The average altitude in the HA-Group was 5041±85.34 m, and 802.1±11.10 m in the LA-Group (p<0.0001).Hematological indicators, including red blood cells, lymphocytes, platelet counts, hemoglobin, PT, APTT, the INR and uric acid, were significantly higher in the HA-Group than in the LA-Group. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis demonstrated that the time to complete resolution of pulmonary thrombosis was significantly shorter in the HA-Group than in the LA-Group (log-rank p=0.033).Conclusions: This retrospective study revealed the clinical characteristics of PE patients at extremely high altitudes. High-altitude exposure may increase the susceptibility of young people to PE, and abnormal serum uric acid metabolism may be a potential risk factor for PE in high altitude areas.
Keywords: Extremely high altitude, Venous Thromboembolism, Pulmonary Embolism, Uric Acid, hypoxia, risk factor
Received: 23 Jun 2024; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhang, Wang and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jialin Wu, General Hospital of Xinjiang Military Region, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
Peng Jiang, General Hospital of Xinjiang Military Region, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Region, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.