Version June 2024
| Condition | Notes |
| General absolute contraindications | |
| Severe, debilitating cardiovascular or pulmonary disease | |
| History of spontaneous pneumothorax | |
| Pregnancy | |
| Conditions or medications with risk of causing incapacitation or loss of consciousness (eg, seizure, syncope disorder) | A wide range of medications are capable of causing impaired alertness, cognition, and/or motor function. Any patient on such medications who wishes to dive should be carefully evaluated. It is prudent to involve a diving medicine specialist in the assessment of such cases. |
| Contraindications by organ system | |
| Cardiovascular | |
| Untreated or debilitating ischemic heart disease | |
| Cardiomyopathy | Otherwise healthy patients with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and appropriate fitness wishing to dive should be assessed by or in consultation with a diving medicine specialist. |
| Heart failure | Mild, well-controlled heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is not an absolute contraindication but requires careful evaluation by a cardiologist and diving medicine specialist. |
| Long QT syndrome or other channelopathy | |
| Arrhythmias causing episodes of loss of consciousness or exercise intolerance | |
| Severe valvular lesions (eg, aortic stenosis) | |
| Cardiac right-to-left shunt (eg, patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect) | Some patients may be able to dive but require evaluation by a cardiologist and diving medicine specialist. |
| Complex congenital heart disease (eg, cyanotic heart disease) | |
| AICD | Relative contraindication. For patients with an AICD who are cleared to dive, manufacturer must certify that AICD can withstand pressures experienced during dive. |
| Immersion pulmonary edema | |
| Hypertension | Well-controlled hypertension in an otherwise healthy adult is not an absolute contraindication to diving, but such patients should be carefully evaluated. |
| Pulmonary | |
| Asthma that is debilitating, poorly controlled, or induced by exercise or cold air | Any pulmonary condition that may compromise exercise tolerance is a relative contraindication to diving. |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | |
| History of spontaneous pneumothorax | |
| Pulmonary blebs/cysts | |
| Neurologic | |
| Seizure disorder | Isolated febrile seizures of infancy are not a contraindication to diving in otherwise healthy adults. |
| Disorders causing impaired cognition or motor function (eg, stroke with residual deficits, neurodegenerative disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury) | |
| Herniated disc | Patients with treated disease and well-controlled symptoms may be able to dive but require evaluation by a spine surgeon and diving medicine specialist. |
| Migraine with aura may be associated with patent foramen ovale; evaluation may be needed. | |
| Head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat | |
| Open TM perforation or myringotomy | History of ear or sinus surgery, TM rupture, or conditions increasing risk for TM rupture (eg, history of tympanostomy tubes or eustachian tube dysfunction) all warrant evaluation. |
| History of vertigo-inducing condition (eg, Meniere, labyrinthitis) warrants evaluation | |
| Diabetes | |
| Considered a contraindication by some; others permit diving using specific safe diving guidelines | |
| Gastrointestinal | |
| Unrepaired inguinal or abdominal hernia | Not an absolute contraindication, but there is risk of incarceration if air becomes trapped and expands while ascending from dive. Patients should be evaluated by a general surgeon and diving medicine specialist. |
| Hematologic | |
| Clotting and bleeding disorders (eg, sickle cell, hemophilia) are not an absolute contraindication but increase risk for decompression sickness | Patients should be evaluated by or in consultation with a diving medicine specialist. |
| Leukemia, lymphoma | |
| Psychiatric | |
| Severe, uncontrolled disorders including substance abuse, panic/anxiety, claustrophobia | |
| Acute episode or history of psychosis | |
| Diving-related illness | |
| Divers with history of decompression sickness or arterial gas embolism should not dive until evaluated by diving medicine specialist | |
AICD: automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator; TM: tympanic membrane.
* This list includes many common contraindications to SCUBA diving but is not exhaustive. There are exceptions to some of the listed contraindications. In such cases, the individual should be evaluated by or in consultation with a diving medicine specialist and the relevant consultant specialist (eg, cardiologist, pulmonologist) as needed.آیا می خواهید مدیلیب را به صفحه اصلی خود اضافه کنید؟
