MEDICAL CARE FOR TEENAGERS IN SPACE: VIEW FROM THE FLIGHT PAEDIATRICIAN

摘要

Although the idea of taking teenagers on board of future suborbital flights is not part of any business plan families arewilling to take along their kids.Teenagers are capable of flying on parabolic flights nowadays. Examples are given.Children are exposed to a wide range of G forces when visiting amusement parks. G forces up to 5.1 are experienced duringthe world's most extreme roller coaster rides. Fatalities involve intracranial bleeds and cardiac conditions such as rhythmdisturbances. Comparison is made with expected G forces during suborbital flights.There is a variety of over the counter drugs suitable for this age group to overcome motion sickness. Routes ofadministration and paediatric age limits are discussed.It is suggested that the mediastinum in the young appears to be more resistant to G forces when it comes to cases of solesurvivors of plane crashes.Some flight readiness criteria are proposed however rather not to eliminate but to provide evidence base to support safeflights with help from the space paediatrician.Psychological support and coping strategies are discussed as well as the problem of full bladder and urinary retention in aconfined place.Wearable biomedical monitoring equipment and shared medical database for research is suggested. This will allow the spacepaediatrician to provide better support.