Nitrox for "safety margin"

[Kev]

Instead of diving nitrox on an air table and worrying about whether it is safer, why not dive air on say a 32% table and worry about whether it is more dangerous?

I am pretty sure you would work the answer out quickly.

[Scubee]

I know plenty of people who, following treatment for a bend, have been advised by the diving docs to dive on Nitrox with air tables.

Surely they haven't just made that recommendation up?

[Bantam]

Whilst researching this topic on DAN, although not directly related, I found this rather interesting article on OxTox which has some input into the discussion.

DAN Divers Alert Network : OXTOX: If You Dive Nitrox You Should Know About OXTOX

(The DAN site is slow, so be patient - it does eventually load!)

[String]

Originally Posted by Scubee

I know plenty of people who, following treatment for a bend, have been advised by the diving docs to dive on Nitrox with air tables.

Surely they haven't just made that recommendation up?

You'd have hoped not - i just wish they'd publicise the literature/papers used to come to that recommendation.

[liamm]

Originally Posted by String

You'd have hoped not - i just wish they'd publicise the literature/papers used to come to that recommendation.

But i guess there are papers that demonstrate that dcs is a factor of nitrogen loading. Therefore if there is less nitrogen loading there is a reduced chance of dcs so it would lead that nitrox is a system that reduces the chances of dcs. But i cant see that it reduces the chances enough to allow for poor bouyancy control, which i guess is where most of the dcs incidents are rooted.

[rs3100]

Originally Posted by String

You'd have hoped not - i just wish they'd publicise the literature/papers used to come to that recommendation.

As stated previously there is only one way to prove that one Rx is better than another, and that is a randomised control trial. All other studies will only point a researcher in the right direction.

No one is going to conduct an RCT into using nitrox over air, not even DAN, these trials cost millions, and what would DAN actually benefit out of it?? Not much!!! The reason that drug companies spend millions on trials is that they get billions back.

Doctors don't need to have empirical evidence to make recommendations, yes it's nice to have, but in the case of DCS it just isn't there. You will find some papers on the subject of air, nitrox, and trimix use, but you're not likely to find an RCT let alone systematic review with meta-analyses.

You seem to want to have published evidence of the benefit of using nitrox on an air table yet the research for air tables is theoretical only anyway. Why not look for a RCT/Systematic Review into the use of air on air table over just not using a table at all??? The evidence that led to the development and use of air tables would have been exactly the same as what led to the developement and use of nitrox tables - and subsequently the recommendation of using nitrox on air tables.

[Garf]

some interesting past research results.

Differential effects of cocaine and cocaine + alcohol on neurocognitive performance," Neurology, June 2000. researchers were apparantly amazed to learn that combining drugs and alcohol is bad for you.

"Is an armed society a polite society? Guns and road rage," Accident Analysis and Prevention, Jan. 2006. Thousands of Americans were interviewed and remarkable results reveal that people who keep loaded guuns in their glove compartments are more likely to initiate road rage incidents

"Multiple magnet ingestion alert," Radiology, Nov. 2004. Swallowing MORE than one magnet is apparantly bad for you.


"I dont understand the point of this thread", YD, May 2008. Apparantly, breathing a gas with less nitrogen results in less Nitogen loading than breathing a gas with more nitrogen in it.

[Bantam]

I'm waiting for the thread asking for empirical evidence for the existence of god.

[rs3100]

Originally Posted by Garf

"I dont understand the point of this thread", YD, May 2008. Apparantly, breathing a gas with less nitrogen results in less Nitogen loading than breathing a gas with more nitrogen in it.

But we want the published evidence of this

[scuba g]

Originally Posted by tom

it's beneficial for me not to stab myself in the face with a garden fork. Do I need to run a controlled experiment to prove that?

Would you mind? As Im bored as feck in work and need some entertainment!