This publication of the proceedings of “The Future of Diving: 100 Years of Haldane and Beyond” is co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and Trondheim University. The symposium was convened by the Baromedical and Environmental Physiology Group of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, on 18–19 December 2008.

This publication of the proceedings of “The Future of Diving: 100 Years of Haldane and Beyond” is co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and Trondheim University. The symposium was convened by the Baromedical and Environmental Physiology Group of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, on 18–19 December 2008.

Data from the DAN Europe Diving Safety Laboratory (DSL) suggest that approximately 95% of recreational diving is carried out today using a dive computer. The most widely dived computers/algorithms, irrespective of brand, use the Bühlmann ZHL-16 or the Wienke RGBM algorithm, with roughly a 50/50 distribution across the DSL population. The vast majority of the 167 recorded decompression sickness (DCS) cases occurred without any significant violation of the respective algorithm’s limits, i.e., most occurred while using gradient factors that were well below the maximum allowed by the algorithm.

Introduction: The popularity of SCUBA diving is steadily increasing together with the number of dives and correlated diseases per year. The rules that govern correct decompression procedures are considered well known even if the majority of Decompression Sickness (DCS) cases are considered unexpected confirming a bias in the "mathematical ability" to predict DCS by the current algorithms. Furthermore, little is still known about diving risk factors and any individual predisposition to DCS. This study provides an in-depth epidemiological analysis of the diving community, to include additional risk factors correlated with the development of circulating bubbles and DCS.

Diving above sea level has different motivations for recreational, military, commercial and scientific activities. Despite the apparently wide practice of inland diving, there are three major discrepancies about diving at altitude: threshold elevation that requires changes in sea level procedures; upper altitude limit of the applicability of these modifications; and independent validation of altitude adaptation methods of decompression algorithms. The first problem is solved by converting the normal fluctuation in barometric pressure to an altitude equivalent.