Evaluation of the Lake Louise acute mountain sickness scoring system in a hypobaric chamber.

This study evaluated the relevance of the Lake Louise acute mountain sickness (AMS) scoring system in comparison with other AMS scoring systems. To achieve this objective nine subjects were submitted to a 9-hr exposure to hypoxia in a hypobaric chamber (altitude 4500-5500 m) that led to the development of AMS. AMS was scored at the end of this exposure period both by questionnaires (Hackett AMS questionnaire, Lake Louise AMS self-report questionnaire, Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire ESQ II and ESQ IV) and by a clinical investigation following the Lake Louise AMS clinical and functional AMS assessment. The AMS scores were between 0 and 9 for the Hackett AMS score, 0 and 38 for the ESQ II AMS score, 0 and 13.7 for the ESQ IV AMS score, 0 and 10 for the Lake Louise AMS self-report, 0 and 2 for the Lake Louise AMS clinical assessment score, and between 0 and 2 for the Lake Louise functional score. All the AMS questionnaire scores were related to the clinical AMS assessment score (p < 0.05) without significant differences between them. The Lake Louise AMS self-report score appeared highly correlated to other AMS scoring systems (Hackett, ESQ II and ESQ IV) (p < 0.05). Suggestions were proposed to improve the sensitivity and the specificity of the Lake Louise AMS scoring questionnaire but also the Lake Louise AMS clinical assessment. In conclusion, this study suggests the relevance of the Lake Louise AMS self-report questionnaire to assess and score AMS with simplicity and rapidity.