Chronic Intermittent High Altitude Exposure, Occupation, and Body Mass Index in Workers of Mining Industry Marina K. Esenamanova, MD, 1 Firuza A. Kochkorova, MD, 1 Tatyana A. Tsivinskaya, MD, 1 Denis Vinnikov, MD, 2 and Kairgeldy Aikimbaev, MD 3 Abstract Esenamanova, Marina K, Kochkorova, Firuza A, Tsivinskaya, Tatyana A, Vinnikov, Denis, and Aikimbaev, Kairgeldy. Chronic intermittent high altitude exposure, occupation, and body mass index in workers of mining industry. High Alt Med Biol 15: 412–417, 2014.—The obesity and overweight rates in population exposed to chronic intermittent exposure to high altitudes are not well studied. The aim of the retrospective study was to evaluate whether there are differences in body mass index in different occupation groups working in intermittent shifts at mining industry at high altitude: 3800–4500 meters above sea level. Our study demonstrated that obesity and overweight are common in workers of high altitude mining industry exposed to chronic intermittent hypoxia. The obesity rate was lowest among miners as compared to blue- and white-collar employees (9.5% vs. 15.6% and 14.7%, p = 0.013). Obesity and overweight were associated with older age, higher rates of increased blood pressure (8.79% and 5.72% vs. 1.92%), cholesterol (45.8% and 45.6% vs. 32.8%) and glucose (4.3% and 1.26% vs. 0.57%) levels as compared to normal body mass index category ( p < 0.0001 for all). There were differences in patterns of cholesterol and glucose levels in men and women employees according to occupation type. In conclusion, obesity and overweight rates are prevalent and associated with increase in blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels in workers of mining industry exposed to intermittent high-altitude hypoxia. Therefore, assessment and moni- toring of body mass index seems to be essential in those who live and work at high altitudes to supply the correct nutrition, modify risk factors, and prevent related disorders. Introduction L ow atmospheric pressure and tissue hypoxia at high altitudes exert unfavorable effects on human physiology, including the reduction in work capacity of cardiovascular and respiratory systems, progressive reduction of exercise capacity, poor sleep quality, and malnutrition (Friedlander et al, 2008; Kayser and Verges, 2013). It is obvious that physical activity at high altitudes, such as work at mining in- dustry and mountaineering, requires proper nutrition, preven- tion of loss in exercise capacity, and prevention of mountain sickness and pulmonary edema development (Vearrier and Greenberg, 2011). Weight loss at high altitudes is a result of increase in basal metabolic rate, increased exertion, and sup- pression of appetite by hypoxia (Simon-Schnass, 1992; Friedlander et al, 0000; Kayser and Verges, 2013). In a popu- lation-based study, it was shown that obesity risk was five times higher for those living at altitudes < 500 m above sea level as compared to residents of > 3000 m altitude (Voss et al., 2013). Recent studies demonstrated that high-altitude environment could be used in treatment of obesity (Schobersberger et al., 2010; Urdampilleta et al, 2012). On the other hand, obesity in high altitudes can aggravate sleep apnea and trigger the development of mountain sick- ness (Ri-Li et al., 2003; Negi et al., 2013). Several studies described increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity along with other cardiovascular risk factors in native high- landers. It has been shown that prevalence of overweight and obesity ranges between 13.5%—14.4% and 1.8%—2.5%, respectively, in permanent residents of high altitudes and is associated with business/skilled worker occupation and hy- pertension (Shah et al., 2004). In another population, resid- ing at 3700 meters above sea level, prevalence of metabolic syndrome was reported to be 8.2%, the low prevalence of metabolic syndrome was associated with male gender, higher education, and physical activity > 2000 kcal/week (Sherpa 1 Department of Hygiene Disciplines, Kyrgyz State Medical Academy named after I.K. Ahunbaev, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. 2 Kumtor Gold Company Medical Department, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. 3 Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey. HIGH ALTITUDE MEDICINE & BIOLOGY Volume 15, Number 3, 2014 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/ham.2013.1150 412