Pregnancy &
Diving
::
Risk for Women
Divers
::
Menarche
::
Menopause &
Osteoporosis
::
Breast Implants
::
Breast Feeding
::
PMS
::
Postpartum
Diving
::
Gender
Differences
Risk For
Women Divers
It appears that
from the best
information and
experience that
it is as safe
for women to
dive as it is
for men, using
the diving
safety
guidelines which
are standard for
all national
certifying
agencies and the
federal
government. Dr.
Caroline Fife,
after
considering all
the experimental
and survey data,
had the
following
comments to make
at a course
given in 1993.
Normal, healthy
females are at
no greater risk
for diving DCS
than their male
counterparts.
Menstruating
women are at no
greater risk for
diving DCS than
non-menstruating
women. (This may
not be true for
altitude or
saturation
diving).
There is no
conclusive data
linking human
birth defects to
maternal diving.
The human fetus
may be at
greater risk of
injury than the
diving mother.
The potential
risk primarily
consists of DCS,
but hyperoxia
and CO2
retention may
also be
problems.
There is
insufficient
experimental
evidence to
establish safe
depth and time
profiles for the
pregnant woman.
Pregnant women
who choose to
dive should be
informed that
potential fetal
risk probably
increases as the
no-decompression
limits are
approached, and
as pregnancy
progresses.
Women who
discover they
are pregnant
after performing
multiday or deep
diving should
not be counseled
to terminate
their pregnancy.
The odds are
still in their
favor.
Until further
data are
available, women
who know that
they are
pregnant should
not dive, just
as they are
advised against
alcohol intake,
radiation
exposure,
smoking and
other
environmental
factors which
may increase the
risk of fetal
injury.
There is no
evidence that
tampons or any
other
intravaginal
objects are in
any way
dangerous from
the effects of
increased
pressure. Not
being a closed
space, it does
not suffer the
effects of
Boyle's Law.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maida Taylor,
MD, MPh has the
following
comments about
women and
diving:
Technically the
pelvis is most
vulnerable to
infection
peri-menstrually,
but there
appears to be no
correlation with
bathing and
infection, There
is a correlation
with douching,
but that is
water introduced
into the vagina
under pressure
dependent on the
gradient created
by the height of
the douching
bag.
Diving and
Menstruation
Sharks are not
an issue -- no
evidence of
increased
attacks on
menstruating
female divers.
Heavy flow and
menorrhagia may
be different
than light flow.
This may be an
increasing
concern as the
female diving
population ages.
Most women with
very heavy flow
probably would
skip diving on
those days.
Issues of
hygiene, privacy
and convenience.
If the flow is
very heavy with
superimposed
anemia, chronic
or acute, that
would limit
potential O2
delivery, and
impair
circulatory
dynamics.
There is some
suggestion from
aerospace
literature and
from dry chamber
dives for
medical
hyperbaric
therapy that
women may be at
increased risk
for DCS during
the first week
of their cycle…
that is during
the menstrual
week. This
phenomenon has
not been studied
in open water
divers. It might
however suggest
that due to
changes in
hormones,
electrolytes,
vasomotor
reactivity and
peripheral
vasoconstriction,
and other
unknown
variables, women
might handle a
gas load
differently
during the
menstrual phase
of their cycles.
One might
caution women
who dive while
menstruating to
dive more
conservatively
…jumping tables,
doing shallower
dives, and
prolonging
safety stops.
Three papers now
suggest that
there is an
increase in
incidence of DCS
during
menstruation:
Rudge, aerospace
DCS
Trainees, 81
females in 11
years, 62 pain
only, 18
neurologic ,
more
days from LMP,
fewer cases
Dixon, aerospace
DCS, 100% DCS
cases were
menstruating,
only 32% non
cases
menstruating
Dunford, chamber
inside
attendants but
not scuba divers
(report by
questionnaire
with extremely
small numbers)
Recent study of
956 divers - of
DCS cases 38%
menstruating,
but 85% were on
OC (oral
contraceptives)
ST LEGER DOWSE
M, BRYSON P,
GUNBYP, FIFE W:
Scuba diving and
the Menstrual
cycle:
retrospective
data from a
follow on
prospective
study of diving
women UHMS
Mexico 1997
Abstract at Ann
Scient Meeting
93% of women
dive while
menstruating,
71% have
symptoms of PMS,
and 34-48%
perceive some
decrement in
performance due
to menstruation.
Will publish
data on effects
and relation to
DCS of
prospective
study in 2000 or
2001.
