Purpose: To determine hearth and lung hemodynamic changes seen and compared to normal standards.
Method and Materials: A transversal descriptive study was performed. A school in La Quiaca (about 3500 meters-10,000 feet above see level) was selected one hundred children, 12 years old. Inclusion criteria: Be a resident in that town for at least one year, be healthy at the moment of the research, to be 12 years old. The variables analyzed were: sex, weight, height, body mass index, pulse oxymmetry, systemic arterial tension, electrocardiogram, color Doppler echocardiogram.
Results: The study included 100 children of twelve years old; 53 boys and 47 girls. Their average weight was 30.34 Kg. Their average height was 134 cm. tall. Their average index of body mass was 18.9. Their average arterial tension was 96/63 mmHg. Among these values there were no important changes as compared to normal values.
Pulse oxymmetry showed a saturation of 89,66%. The result of the electrocardiogram is the following: 8% was normal; 5% showed left pattern; and 87% showed an electric axis deviated to the right, the mean of axis was +108º. By means of color Doppler echocardiography it was observed the following: 93% showed tricuspid insufficiency that helped to determine the pressure in the VD that was an average of 22 mmHg, were statistically meaningful as compared to the normal standards.
Conclusions: Children who live at 3,500 meters above sea level developed hemodynamic changes in order to adapt to that geographic condition, developing some degree of “lung hypertension”.