Residential Altitude Associates With Endurance but Not Muscle Power in Young Swiss Men

Norina N Gassmann; Katarina L Matthes; Patrick Eppenberger; Marek Brabec; Radoslav Panczak; Marcel Zwahlen; Nicole Bender; Thomas Wyss; Frank J Rühli; Kaspar Staub

doi:10.3389/fphys.2020.00860

Residential Altitude Associates With Endurance but Not Muscle Power in Young Swiss Men

Front Physiol. 2020 Jul 23:11:860. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00860. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Norina N Gassmann^{1

2}, Katarina L Matthes^{1

3}, Patrick Eppenberger¹, Marek Brabec⁴, Radoslav Panczak⁵, Marcel Zwahlen⁶, Nicole Bender¹, Thomas Wyss⁷, Frank J Rühli^{1

2}, Kaspar Staub^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
² Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Institute of Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia.
⁵ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QL, Australia.
⁶ Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁷ Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM, Magglingen, Switzerland.

Abstract

Introduction: Physical fitness benefits health. However, there is a research gap on how physical fitness, particularly aerobic endurance capacity and muscle power, is influenced by residential altitude, blood parameters, weight, and other cofactors in a population living at low to moderate altitudes (300-2100 masl).

Materials and methods: We explored how endurance and muscle power performance changes with residential altitude, Body Mass Index (BMI), hemoglobin and creatinine levels among 108,677 Swiss men aged 18-22 years (covering >90% of Swiss birth cohorts) conscripted to the Swiss Armed Forces between 2007 and 2012. The test battery included a blood test of about 65%, a physical evaluation of about 85%, and the BMI of all conscripts.

Results: Residential altitude was significantly associated with endurance (p < 0.001) but not with muscle power performance (p = 0.858) after adjusting for all available cofactors. Higher BMI showed the greatest negative association with both endurance and muscle power performance. For muscle power performance, the association with creatinine levels was significant. Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and hemoglobin levels were stronger contributors in explaining endurance than muscle power performance.

Conclusion: We found a significant association between low to moderate residential altitude and aerobic endurance capacity even after adjustment for hemoglobin, creatinine, BMI and sociodemographic factors. Non-assessed factors such as vitamin D levels, air pollution, and lifestyle aspects may explain the presented remaining association partially and could also be associated with residential altitude. Monitoring the health and fitness of young people and their determinants is important and of practical concern for disease prevention and public health implications.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; Switzerland; VO2max; general additive models; hemoglobin; multiple imputation.