Acetazolamide reduces acute mountain sickness when climbing at high altitude. Gertsch and colleagues (p 797) randomised 614 Western trekkers climbing Mount Everest to acetazolamide, ginkgo biloba, a combination of the two drugs, or placebo. They found that only acetazolamide reduced the symptoms of acute mountain sickness. Ginkgo biloba did not have any effect, and when it was combined with acetazolamide the incidence of headache was greater than when acetazolamide was taken alone.
Figure 1.
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