Effects of moderate alcohol consumption and hypobaric hypoxia: implications for passengers’ sleep, oxygen saturation and heart rate on long-haul flights

Abstract

Background: Passengers on long-haul flights frequently consume alcohol. Inflight sleep exacerbates the fall in blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂) caused by the decreased oxygen partial pressure in the cabin. We investigated the combined influence of alcohol and hypobaric hypoxia on sleep, SpO₂ and heart rate. Methods: Two groups of healthy individuals spent either two nights with a 4-hour sleep opportunity (00:00-04:00 hours) in the sleep laboratory (n=23; 53 m above sea level) or in the altitude chamber (n=17; 753 hPa corresponding to 2438 m above sea level, hypobaric condition). Participants consumed alcohol before one of the nights (mean±SE blood alcohol concentration 0.043±0.003%). The order of the nights was counterbalanced. Two 8-hour recovery nights (23:00-07:00 hours) were scheduled between conditions. Polysomnography, SpO₂ and heart rate were recorded. Results: The combined exposure to alcohol and hypobaric condition decreased SpO₂ to a median (25th/75th percentile) of 85.32% (82.86/85.93) and increased heart rate to a median (25th/75th percentile) of 87.73 bpm (85.89/93.86) during sleep compared with 88.07% (86.50/88.49) and 72.90 bpm (70.90/78.17), respectively, in the non-alcohol hypobaric condition, 94.97% (94.59/95.33) and 76.97 bpm (65.17/79.52), respectively, in the alcohol condition and 95.88% (95.72/96.36) and 63.74 bpm (55.55/70.98), respectively, in the non-alcohol condition of the sleep laboratory group (all p<0.0001). Under the combined exposure SpO₂ was 201.18 min (188.08/214.42) below the clinical hypoxia threshold of 90% SpO₂ compared with 173.28 min (133.25/199.03) in the hypobaric condition and 0 min (0/0) in both sleep laboratory conditions. Deep sleep (N3) was reduced to 46.50 min (39.00/57.00) under the combined exposure compared with both sleep laboratory conditions (alcohol: 84.00 min (62.25/92.75); non-alcohol: 67.50 min (58.50/87.75); both p<0.003). Conclusions: The combination of alcohol and inflight hypobaric hypoxia reduced sleep quality, challenged the cardiovascular system and led to extended duration of hypoxaemia (SpO₂ <90%).