Department of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Physiology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Capa, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2021 Jun 12;65(5):505-515. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxaa132.
The narcotic effect of hyperbaric nitrogen is most pronounced in air-breathing divers because it impairs diver's cognitive and behavioral performance, and limits the depth of dive profiles. We aimed to investigate the cognitive effects of simulated (500 kPa) air environments in recreational SCUBA divers, revealed by auditory event-related potentials (AERPs).
A total of 18 healthy volunteer recreational air SCUBA divers participated in the study. AERPs were recorded in pre-dive, deep-dive, and post-dive sessions.
False-positive score variables were found with significantly higher differences and longer reaction times of hits during deep-dive and post-dive than pre-dive sessions. Also, P3 amplitudes were significantly reduced and peak latencies were prolonged during both deep-dive and post-dive compared with pre-dive sessions.
We observed that nitrogen narcosis at 500 kPa pressure in the dry hyperbaric chamber has a mild-to-moderate negative effect on the cognitive performance of recreational air SCUBA divers, which threatened the safety of diving. Although relatively decreased, this effect also continued in the post-dive sessions. These negative effects are especially important for divers engaged in open-sea diving. Our results show crucial implications for the kinds of control measures that can help to prevent nitrogen narcosis and diving accidents at depths up to 40 msw.
高压氮气的麻醉作用在空气潜水员中最为明显，因为它会损害潜水员的认知和行为表现，并限制潜水深度。我们旨在通过听觉事件相关电位（AERPs）研究模拟（500 kPa）空气环境对休闲 SCUBA 潜水员的认知影响。
共有 18 名健康的志愿休闲空气 SCUBA 潜水员参加了这项研究。在潜水前、深潜中和潜水后三个阶段记录 AERPs。
在深潜和潜水后阶段，假阳性评分变量的差异明显更大，反应时间也更长。此外，与潜水前阶段相比，深潜和潜水后阶段 P3 振幅显著降低，峰值潜伏期延长。
我们观察到，在干高压舱中，500 kPa 压力下的氮麻醉对休闲空气 SCUBA 潜水员的认知表现有轻度到中度的负面影响，这威胁到潜水的安全。尽管影响相对降低，但这种影响在潜水后阶段仍会持续。这些负面影响对于从事深海潜水的潜水员尤为重要。我们的研究结果对于可以帮助预防氮麻醉和潜水事故的控制措施具有重要意义，这些措施可用于 40 米水深以内的潜水。
