Ahmed Syed Shozab, Goswami Nandu, Sirek Adam, Green David Andrew, Winnard Andrew, Fiebig Leonie, Weber Tobias
Department of Family Medicine, Postgraduate Medical Education, Queen's University School of Medicine, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Division of Physiology, Otto Löwi Research Center for Vascular Biology, Immunity and Inflammation, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
NPJ Microgravity. 2024 Apr 25;10(1):48. doi: 10.1038/s41526-024-00389-1.
A systematic review of literature was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of passive countermeasures in ameliorating the cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal effects of gravitational unloading on humans during spaceflight. This systematic review is the third of a series being conducted by the European Space Agency to evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures to physiologic deconditioning during spaceflight. With future long-duration space missions on the horizon, it is critical to understand the effectiveness of existing countermeasures to promote astronaut health and improve the probability of future mission success. An updated search for studies examining passive countermeasures was conducted in 2021 to supplement results from a broader search conducted in 2017 for all countermeasures. Ground-based analogue and spaceflight studies were included in the search. A total of 647 articles were screened following removal of duplicates, of which 16 were included in this review. Data extraction and analysis, quality assessment of studies, and transferability of reviewed studies to actual spaceflight based on their bed-rest protocol were conducted using dedicated tools created by the Aerospace Medicine Systematic Review Group. Of the 180 examined outcomes across the reviewed studies, only 20 were shown to have a significant positive effect in favour of the intervention group. Lower body negative pressure was seen to significantly maintain orthostatic tolerance (OT) closer to baseline as comparted to control groups. It also was seen to have mixed efficacy with regards to maintaining resting heart rate close to pre-bed rest values. Whole body vibration significantly maintained many balance-related outcome measures close to pre-bed rest values as compared to control. Skin surface cooling and centrifugation both showed efficacy in maintaining OT. Centrifugation also was seen to have mixed efficacy with regards to maintaining VO2max close to pre-bed rest values. Overall, standalone passive countermeasures showed no significant effect in maintaining 159 unique outcome measures close to their pre-bed rest values as compared to control groups. Risk of bias was rated high or unclear in all studies due to poorly detailed methodologies, poor control of confounding variables, and other sources of bias (i.e. inequitable recruitment of participants leading to a higher male:female ratios). The bed-rest transferability (BR) score varied from 2-7, with a median score of 5. Generally, most studies had good BR transferability but underreported on factors such as control of sunlight or radiation exposure, diet, level of exercise and sleep-cycles. We conclude that: (1) Lack of standardisation of outcome measurement and methodologies has led to large heterogeneity amongst studies; (2) Scarcity of literature and high risk of bias amongst existing studies limits the statistical power of results; and (3) Passive countermeasures have little or no efficacy as standalone measures against cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal deconditioning induced by spaceflight related to physiologic deterioration due to gravity un-loading.
进行了一项文献系统综述,以评估被动对策在改善太空飞行期间重力卸载对人体心肺和肌肉骨骼影响方面的有效性。该系统综述是欧洲航天局开展的系列综述中的第三篇,旨在评估太空飞行期间针对生理机能衰退的对策的有效性。随着未来长期太空任务的临近,了解现有对策的有效性对于促进宇航员健康和提高未来任务成功的概率至关重要。2021年对研究被动对策的研究进行了更新搜索,以补充2017年对所有对策进行的更广泛搜索的结果。搜索纳入了地面模拟和太空飞行研究。去除重复项后,共筛选了647篇文章,其中16篇纳入本综述。使用航天医学系统综述小组创建的专用工具进行数据提取和分析、研究质量评估以及根据卧床休息方案将综述研究转化为实际太空飞行的可行性评估。在综述研究的180项检查结果中,只有20项显示对干预组有显著的积极影响。与对照组相比,下体负压被认为能显著使直立耐力(OT)更接近基线水平。在使静息心率接近卧床休息前的值方面,其效果也好坏参半。与对照组相比,全身振动能显著使许多与平衡相关的指标更接近卧床休息前的值。皮肤表面冷却和离心在维持OT方面均显示出效果。离心在使最大摄氧量(VO₂max)接近卧床休息前的值方面效果也好坏参半。总体而言,与对照组相比,单独的被动对策在使159项独特指标接近其卧床休息前的值方面没有显著效果。由于方法描述不详细、对混杂变量控制不佳以及其他偏倚来源(即参与者招募不均衡导致男女比例较高),所有研究的偏倚风险被评为高或不清楚。卧床休息可转化性(BR)评分从2到7不等,中位数为5。一般来说,大多数研究具有良好的BR可转化性,但在阳光或辐射暴露控制、饮食、运动水平和睡眠周期等因素方面报告不足。我们得出以下结论:(1)结果测量和方法缺乏标准化导致研究之间存在很大异质性;(2)现有研究中文献稀缺且偏倚风险高,限制了结果的统计效力;(3)作为对抗因重力卸载导致生理退化的太空飞行引起的心肺和肌肉骨骼机能衰退的单独措施,被动对策几乎没有效果。