Can Diving Depth Affect Blood Hemostasis System Responses?

The purpose of this study was to investigation of hemostasis system responses to entertainment open-sea air dive in depths of 9 and 18 meters. Twenty men diver with a mean age of 24.5 ± 3.2 years voluntarily participated in this study. In each diving session, 10 participants dive in depth of 9 meters and 10 others dive in depth of 18 meters, that their selection was randomly and they were changes together in the next session. Diving lasted for 30 minutes. Blood samples were taken immediately before and after the diving. To data analysis, t test was used. The results indicated that mean platelet count, PT and aPTT were reduced followed by diving in both depths of 9 and 18 meters (P ≥ 0.05). However, fibrinogen levels were increased after diving at both 9 m and 18 m depth and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) activity only at 18 m depth compared to the baseline (P > 0.01). Also, after diving at the depth of 18 m, platelet count and PT were lower (P ≤ 0.05), and fibrinogen and tPA activity were higher than diving at 9 m depth (P < 0.01). It seems that open-sea air diving can disrupt hemostasis system, especially blood clotting system. In addition, diving depth and height of the decompression effect hemostatic responses.