What’s the best way to determine whether someone is “fit to dive?”
Jo Alexiou, an active scuba diver and clinical exercise physiologist at Plymouth Marjon University, is involved in a research project investigating the cardiovascular profile of active scuba divers.
The goal of the project is to make the first available “fit to dive” guidelines that will benefit all underwater divers and reduce overall diving fatalities.
The project is looking for active scuba divers from all over the world to complete a short online research survey.
According to the questionnaire:
“The purpose of this research study is to collect anonymous information from active scuba divers regarding their diving habits and their overall health status. This information would assist us towards developing a consistent background for the scuba divers’ ten-year cardiovascular risk and help us design a larger interventional study.
“Even though cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for a quarter of diving fatalities, only few studies have investigated this relationship so far. In the contrary, the current procedure for medical screening for fitness to dive is not adequate for all divers and especially for those above 45 years of age which includes only a personal health statement.”
If you’re interested, you can check out the project’s Facebook page or take the survey here.
