Montrose Q: What long-term changes (vital signs, increased respiratory rate) does the body make when a person moves from sea-level to high altitude?
These will be variable; a growing person is able to make more profound adaptations that an oldster (kids in Leadville have bigger chests). In general, tidal volume (the amount we inhale, on average) may increase a bit, while the initial rapid breathing settles down. The most important change is this: Sensors in the kidney )remember, it gets to look at a lot of the hearts output) detect lowered oxygen content and secrete erythropoietin, the hormone that makes the bone marrow ramp up its production of red blood cells. So people at high altitude have higher red cell counts (hematocrit, the % of blood volume that is red cells may go from 35% to 50%).
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