State of the circulatory system in sailors as an indicator of adaptation to long sea voyage
Matsevich, L.M.; Poroshenko, A.S.; Vinnikova, V.N.
Kardiologiia 16(9): 50-56
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-9040 PMID: 1011529 Document Number: 107276
The peculiarities of the circulatory functions were examined in sailors following nautical voyages of varying duration and directly on board during a 6-month cruise. Over 1200 persons were subjected to the examination. The overall morbidity was analyzed in a contingent of about 6000 persons. The whole material was statistically processed. The sailors were found to develop hypotensive reactions during the voyage that persisted following its termination. Cruises lasting over 2-3 months cause a significant tension of the adaptation mechanisms in the sailors, thus favouring the formation of persistent hypotensive states, inadequate reactions of the arterial pressure and heart rate, ECG changes that reflect the impairment of the functional state of the myocardium, etc. A lack of adaptation to cruises exceeding 2-3 months was established. The functional state of the cardiovascular system of sailors is considered to be one of the leading criteria for substantiating physiologically permissible duration of cruises.