Table 1.

Demographic data

Group:	Lowlanders	Highlanders		P values
Subgroup:	Controls (n = 17)	CMS− (n = 14)	CMS+ (n = 23)	CMS− vs. controls	CMS+ vs. controls	CMS+ vs. CMS−
Clinical
Age (years)	56 ± 18	52 ± 12	56 ± 11	0.614 (between groups)
Hb (g/dL)	15.0 ± 1.3	17.2 ± 1.1*	20.9 ± 1.7*†	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Hct (%)	46 ± 4	52 ± 4*	63 ± 6*†	0.002	<0.001	<0.001
$S_{\mathrm{a}{\mathrm{O}}_2}$ (%)	97 ± 0	91 ± 5*	88 ± 4*†	<0.001	<0.001	0.044
caO2 (mg/dL)	20.2 ± 1.8	21.6 ± 1.8	25.5 ± 2.3	0.147	<0.001	<0.001
CMS score (points)	0 ± 0	2 ± 2	8 ± 5*†	0.369	<0.001	<0.001
Anthropometrics
Body mass (kg)	82.0 ± 13.4	71.6 ± 8.9	78.2 ± 11.8	0.053 (between groups)
Stature (m)	1.77 ± 0.06	1.63 ± 0.04	1.62 ± 0.06	<0.001	<0.001	1.000
BMI (units)	26 ± 4	27 ± 4	30 ± 4*	1.000	0.025	0.122
Waist:hip	0.93 ± 0.08	0.95 ± 0.05	0.99 ± 0.04*	1.000	0.019	0.162
Education
Secondary (n/%)	16/94	13/93	20/87	0.697 (between groups)
University (n/%)	8/47	4/29	5/22	0.225 (between groups)

Values are mean ± SD; CMS−/CMS+, highlanders without/with chronic mountain sickness; Hb, haemoglobin; Hct, haematocrit; $S_{\mathrm{a}{\mathrm{O}}_2}$, arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation; caO₂, arterial oxygen content; BMI, body mass index. ^*Different vs. lowlanders (P < 0.05); ^†different vs. CMS− (P < 0.05). Clinical and anthropometric data were analysed using one‐way ANOVAs and post hoc Bonferonni‐adjusted independent samples t‐tests. Education data were analysed using Pearson chi‐square tests.