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Apollo Lunar Astronauts Show Higher Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Possible Deep Space Radiation Effects on the Vascular Endothelium

Overview of attention for article published in Scientific Reports, July 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Citations

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146 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
239 Mendeley
Title
Apollo Lunar Astronauts Show Higher Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Possible Deep Space Radiation Effects on the Vascular Endothelium
Published in
Scientific Reports, July 2016
DOI 10.1038/srep29901
Pubmed ID
Authors

Michael D. Delp, Jacqueline M. Charvat, Charles L. Limoli, Ruth K. Globus, Payal Ghosh

Abstract

As multiple spacefaring nations contemplate extended manned missions to Mars and the Moon, health risks could be elevated as travel goes beyond the Earth's protective magnetosphere into the more intense deep space radiation environment. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, accidents and all other causes of death differ in (1) astronauts who never flew orbital missions in space, (2) astronauts who flew only in low Earth orbit (LEO), and (3) Apollo lunar astronauts, the only humans to have traveled beyond Earth's magnetosphere. Results show there were no differences in CVD mortality rate between non-flight (9%) and LEO (11%) astronauts. However, the CVD mortality rate among Apollo lunar astronauts (43%) was 4-5 times higher than in non-flight and LEO astronauts. To test a possible mechanistic basis for these findings, a secondary purpose was to determine the long-term effects of simulated weightlessness and space-relevant total-body irradiation on vascular responsiveness in mice. The results demonstrate that space-relevant irradiation induces a sustained vascular endothelial cell dysfunction. Such impairment is known to lead to occlusive artery disease, and may be an important risk factor for CVD among astronauts exposed to deep space radiation.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 293 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 239 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 <1%
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Unknown 235 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 37 15%
Researcher 33 14%
Student > Bachelor 33 14%
Student > Master 28 12%
Professor > Associate Professor 13 5%
Other 38 16%
Unknown 57 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 41 17%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 31 13%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 23 10%
Physics and Astronomy 17 7%
Engineering 17 7%
Other 47 20%
Unknown 63 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1971. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 February 2024.
All research outputs
#4,733
of 25,490,562 outputs
Outputs from Scientific Reports
#69
of 141,351 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#40
of 380,375 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Scientific Reports
#1
of 3,660 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,490,562 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 141,351 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 18.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 380,375 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 3,660 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.