Aspirin for prophylaxis against headache at high altitudes: randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial
BMJ 1998; 316 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.316.7137.1057 (Published 04 April 1998) Cite this as: BMJ 1998;316:1057
- Martin Burtscher, associate professora,
- Rudolf Likar, senior registrarb,
- Werner Nachbauer, associate professora,
- Michael Philadelphy, headc
- a Department of Sport Science, Medical Section, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
- b General Hospital of Klagenfurt, Department of Anaesthesia, A-9020 Klagenfurt, Austria
- c Austrian Alpine Club, Health Section, Innsbruck
- Correspondence to: Dr Burtscher Martin.Burtscher@uibk.ac.at
- Accepted 22 October 1997
At altitudes of 3000-5000 m about 20-50% of skiers and mountaineers experience headache, the main symptom of acute mountain sickness.1 Although most mountaineers know that they should avoid climbing great heights too early on and too fast, they may not always act accordingly. The use of drugs to prevent and treat headaches at high altitudes is therefore widespread, aspirin being one of the most commonly taken. We tested the efficacy of aspirin as prophylaxis against headache at high altitudes.
Subjects, methods, and results
Twenty nine volunteers with a history of headache at high altitude were randomly assigned in a double blind fashion to receive placebo (eight men, six women, mean age 38 (SD 12) years) or 320 mg aspirin (nine men, six women, mean age 38 (14) years). After examination at low altitude (600 m), subjects were transported to high altitude (3480 m) …