Children in the mountains

BMJ 1998;317:540 ( 22 August )

Letters

Children in the mountains

Advice given was too conservative

Authors' reply

Advice given was too conservative

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ We agree with Pollard et al that infants and children below the age of 2 who are on treks should not sleep above 2000m.¹ But we question their concluding remark that children aged2-10 who are trekking should not sleep higher than 3000 m. Inthe absence of any firm data on acute mountain sickness in children,we believe that this advice is too conservative for children whocan express themselves clearly $---$ for instance, those aged 7 andolder.

Firstly, in our experience the ability of the child to describe a problem clearly in words (so that, if necessary, descentcan be planned promptly) is key in the decision whether childrenshould accompany adults to high altitude. We believe that thiswas not emphasised enough in theeditorial.

Secondly, most leaders of trekking groups in the Himalayas believe that dehydration is unhealthy at high altitude and thatit may predispose to . . . [Full text of this article]