More people are traveling to remote places for leisure and business. It is not uncommon for patients to get medication and advice for travel to high altitudes. Although high altitude cerebral and pulmonary oedemas are more frequent at very high and extreme altitudes, they may sometimes occur at lower altitudes and lead to fatalities. Even though acute mountain sickness (AMS) is generally deemed benign, it can easily wreck a holiday. The Lake Louise Score Questionnaire is a useful screening tool for AMS and it can be self-administered during travel. Non-pharmacological means in the prevention and treatment of AMS, especially acclimatisation, are the most important. Pharmacological prevention and treatment strategies should be used as a useful adjunct. This paper provides an approach to the provision of education and advice for high altitude travel in the primary care setting.

INTRODUCTIONNot much is known regarding how primary care physicians (PCPs) in Singapore keep themselves healthy and mitigate ill health. This study aims to determine the health-seeking behaviour of local PCPs and to identify the predictors of local PCPs attaining the recommended level of exercise.

METHODSThis study was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, which included questions on the demographic characteristics, practice profiles and health-seeking behaviour of PCPs. The sampling frame was the 1,400 listed members of the College of Family Physicians Singapore. The anonymised survey was executed in two phases: a postal survey, followed by a web-based survey on the College of Family Physicians Singapore website. The two data sets were collated; the categorical variables, summarised; and the differences between subgroups (based on exercise engagement), compared using Fisher's exact test. The effect of each risk factor on exercise duration was quantified using odds ratio (OR) estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant predictors of exercise engagement.

RESULTSA total of 631 PCPs participated in the survey--26% were ≤ 34 years old, 58% were male, 21% were single, 34% were singleton practitioners, and 56% were private practitioners. The percentage of PCPs who exercised ≥ 2.5 hours weekly was 29%, while 28% exercised < 0.5 hours weekly. Of the PCPs surveyed, 1% currently smoke, 0.8% drink more than 14 units of alcohol weekly, 60% undertook health screening, 65% had blood investigations done, and 64% had taken preventive measures such as getting influenza vaccination.

CONCLUSIONWhile local PCPs generally did not have undesirable habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse, they could further increase their exercise intensity and undertake more preventive measures such as getting vaccinated against various diseases.

Adult ; Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Exercise ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio ; Physicians, Primary Care ; Risk Factors ; Singapore ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Adrenal Glands ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism ; Retrospective Studies ; Singapore