None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The hypothesis to be tested is that wearing thicker wet suits (7mm or double 7mm on torso) impairs the ventilatory mechanics of healthy divers. This has never been studied for colder water wetsuits that are often used in Tasmania. Divers wearing thinner wetsuits (median 3mm), have been studied in the past. The aim is to measure the effect that wearing thicker (7mm or greater thickness) wetsuits has on the respiratory function of healthy divers measured by lung function testing.. A series of volunteer healthy divers will be enrolled. Spirometry (lung function) measurements will be be undertaken firstly without a wetsuit, and when wearing 7mm one- piece Summer suit and/or 7mm dual layer Winter suits, These wetsuits are standard for Tasmania’s climate. Based on previous studies of divers in thinner wetsuits, we expect that there will be significant impairment in lung function when wearing a 7mm or greater thickness wetsuit. The information gained from the study could guide medical advice to older divers and also divers with pre-existing medical conditions. In addition it may provide some physiological information that helps to unlock why some older divers in colder water are prone to breathing problems associated with immersion.
Interventions
What is involved for participants:
Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire which documents age, sex, ethnic origin (for spirometry inputs) , dive qualifications, number of dives experience (categorical data), wetsuit thickness, followed by height and weight measurement (for BMI calculations, and spirometry inputs).
Following their consent to participate, subjects will be briefed on spirometry technique.
Participants will be asked to complete a spirometry measurement dressed i
What is involved for participants: Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire which documents age, sex, ethnic origin (for spirometry inputs) , dive qualifications, number of dives experience (categorical data), wetsuit thickness, followed by height and weight measurement (for BMI calculations, and spirometry inputs). Following their consent to participate, subjects will be briefed on spirometry technique. Participants will be asked to complete a spirometry measurement dressed in loose clothes or when wearing their own personal wetsuit. The test involves exhaling into a piece of equipment for 20-30 seconds while wearing a nose clip. The test will be performed up to 6 times over a 10 minute period until two consistent samples are achieved. The order of sampling (wearing or not wearing a wetsuit, single or double layer) will be randomised to minimise practice effect for participants. Each set of samples measuring lung function will occur between 15 and 30 minutes after the previous measurements, to allow divers to change (their clothes or wetsuit), and to rest before the next test. If divers own two wetsuits (for example a second winter double layer wetsuit), three sets of samples will be collected each separated by 15-30 minutes (in the order determined by randomisation). The total period of sampling will be in a single observation session of no longer than 60-90 minutes duration. Participants will receive no further observation after finishing this session. The session will be supervised by the research study doctors in the hyperbaric facility who designed the study.
Sponsors
Royal Hobart Hospital, Department of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Other
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Adult (18 years or over) qualified healthy non-smoker active divers Free of respiratory or cardiac illness, not pregnant Dive regularly but have not dived in the last 24 hours. Divers will have fasted for 2 hours before the assessment
Exclusion criteria
Declared by qualified diving doctor as unfit to dive
Outcome results
None listed