Carbon dioxide protects simulated driving performance during severe hypoxia.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

We sought to determine the effect of acute severe hypoxia, with and without concurrent manipulation of carbon dioxide (CO₂), on complex real-world psychomotor task performance.

Methods

Twenty-one participants completed a 10-min simulated driving task while breathing room air (normoxia) or hypoxic air (P_ETO₂ = 45 mmHg) under poikilocapnic, isocapnic, and hypercapnic conditions (P_ETCO₂ = not manipulated, clamped at baseline, and clamped at baseline + 10 mmHg, respectively). Driving performance was assessed using a fixed-base motor vehicle simulator. Oxygenation in the frontal cortex was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Results

Speed limit exceedances were greater during the poikilocapnic

SUBMITTER: Bloomfield PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10276124 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature