This study was to investigate the effect of altitude on lung function of male athletes. The spirometric parameters were measured at three different altitudes including baseline (1400 m above sea level), 3600 m above sea level and sea level. This study was performed at Savalan Mountain and Astara city during summer 2008 in Iran. Respiratory function of participants was assessed at baseline (1400 meter), after ascending at 3600 meter in Savalan Mount and after descending to sea level in Astara city (after 3 days) with a Spirolab II spirometr. Eighteen volunteers male athletes, (mean (SD) age; 21.66(0.37) yr, weight; 68.88(2.1) kg, height; 173.3 (2) cm and vo2max 49.6(1.49) ml/kg/min) were selected for this study. Spirometric parameter changes were analyzed using ANOVA for repeated measurements with Bonferroni (post hoc) statistical analysis computations. This was performed by SPSS software version 16 and p≤0.05 was considered significant. Majority of spirometric parameters were significantly increased at altitude 3600 m compared to the sea level (P<0.05). But some parameters were not significantly different between high altitude (3600 m) and the baseline (1400 m). Acute ascent to altitude above 3600m lessens airway resistance and consequently facilitates expiratory airflow and increases the majority of spirometric parameters in male athletes.
