Astronauts on long-duration missions to the International Space Station (ISS) face sleep problems and skin rashes which relate to the unusual and confined microgravity environment in which they work,
Astronauts on long-duration missions to the International Space Station (ISS) face sleep problems and skin rashes which relate to the unusual and confined microgravity environment in which they work, a first-of-its-kind study has found.
The study was the first-ever examination of the medications used by astronauts on long-duration missions to the ISS. The study, published in the FASEB Journal, found that much of the medicine taken by astronauts in space relates to the unusual and confined microgravity environment in which they work or to the actual work that they are doing to complete their missions.
Among these medications, the study showed that the use of sleep aids and incidence of skin rashes were higher than expected. These findings not only help the world’s space agencies anticipate needs for future ISS inhabitants, but also the day-to-day medical needs of those who may take the trip to Mars, researchers said. “We hope that this study will help Nasa to prepare for astronauts’ medical needs on long-duration spaceflight missions,” said Virginia E. Wotring, a researcher involved in the work from the Division of Space Life Sciences at Universities Space Research Associati-on in Houston, Texas.
“Knowing what medications to pack is especially important before starting an exploration mission that may last three years,” Wotring said. To make their observations, Wotring examined the medical records of ISS crewmembers who gave permission to use their data in this study. The medications they used, the reasons they used them and how well they said the medicines worked were analysed. Many of the astronaut medication uses examined were very similar to what would be seen in any group of healthy adults on Earth.
The astronauts’ medication usage was especially similar to that of submarine crews, although submariners are on Earth and underwater, they also live in a closed environment for months at a time. This study is one step toward figuring out if being in reduced gravity changes how our medicines work, researchers said.
