Motion Sickness Lessons from the Southern Ocean

BACKGROUND: The objectives were to assess the prevalence, severity, and medication taken, and to look for predictive factors, in order to better identify characteristics of passengers at risk of motion sickness during transport from Hobart in Tasmania to the French polar stations in Antarctica. METHODS: There were 239 passengers who were surveyed over 4 yr with 4 round trips per year using the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (MSSQ), Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), state-trait anxiety test (STAI -Trait and STAI -State), and general parameters (age, gender, number of trips, jet-lag, direction of the trip), medication, calculation of the distance of each passenger’s cabin to the Centre of Gravity (CoG.). RESULTS: While the passengers had a low intrinsic sensitivity to motion sickness (MSSQ), 94% reported at least one SSQ symptom of motion sickness, and 38% vomited. Five associated factors were discovered: greater initial sensitivity (MSSQ), anticipation of being ill, younger age, higher level of anxiety at midtrip, and greater distance from the CoG. Of the passengers, there were 54% who took anti-motion sickness medication at different times of the trip, however, these passengers experienced more nausea. This could be due to self-selection since they were more sensitive to motion sickness. CONCLUSION: We identified three predictive factors of motion sickness (greater intrinsic susceptibility, younger age, and greater cabin distance from the CoG). For preventive purposes, two associated factors of MS (anticipation of being ill, MSSQ score) were determined to classify three groups of risk of MS to improve passenger care during the trip