Commercial Divers' Subjective Evaluation of Saturation

Abstract

Commercial saturation diving involves divers living and working in an enclosed atmosphere with elevated partial pressure of oxygen (ppO₂) for weeks. The divers must acclimatize to these conditions during compression, and for up to 28 days until decompression is completed. During decompression, the ppO₂ and ambient pressure are gradually decreased; then the divers must acclimatize again to breathing normal air in atmospheric pressure when they arrive at surface. We investigated 51 saturation divers' subjective evaluation of the saturation and post-decompression phase via questionnaires and individual interviews. The questions were about decompression headaches and fatigue; and time before recovering to a pre-saturation state. Twenty-two (44%) of the divers who responded declared having headaches; near surface (44%) or after surfacing (56%). 71% reported post-saturation fatigue after their last saturation, 82% of them described it as typical and systematic after each saturation. Recovery was reported to normally take from 1 to 10 days. The fatigue and headaches observed are compatible with divers' acclimatization to the changes in ppO₂ levels during saturation and decompression. They appear to be reversible post- decompression.

Keywords: diving fatigue; headache; hemoglobin; long term health effects; relative hypoxia; saturation diving.

FIGURE 1

A typical saturation profile (compression, storage and bell dives, decompression at constant partial pressure of oxygen -ppO₂- and at constant oxygen percentage) and the corresponding ppO₂ profile.