Periodic breathing at high altitude

Authors: Fowler A.C.¹; Kalamangalam G.P.²

Source: IMA Journal of Mathematics Applied in Medicine and Biology, Volume 19, Number 4, December 2002 , pp. 293-313(21)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $42.29 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Periodic breathing is often associated with heart disease or stroke, and commonly Cheyne–Stokes breathing has a period of about a minute. Periodic breathing also commonly occurs in healthy subjects at high altitude, and here the periods may be much shorter, of the order of 15–20 s. In this paper we study such periodic breathing using the classical model of Grodins et al. (1967, J. Appl. Physiol. 22, 260–276), together with a prescription for the dependence of ventilation on the blood CO<inf>2</inf> concentration, modulated by the reduced oxygen pressure (the ‘Oxford fan’). The model focusses on the fast dynamics of the arterial blood CO<inf>2</inf>, and differs in this respect from our previous work which emphasised the brain CO<inf>2</inf> concentration; in this sense our model is in fact a generalization of the conceptually simpler Mackey–Glass model.

Keywords: Grodins model; periodic breathing; peripheral chemoreceptor; differential-delay equations

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/imammb/dqg005

Affiliations: 1: Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, 24–29 St. Giles', Oxford OX1 3LB, UK 2: Department of Neurology, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow G51 4TF, UK

Publication date: 2002-12-01