Summary
Antarctica is a well-established space analogue environment where expeditioners face challenges similar to those experienced in human spaceflight. The challenges posed by medical emergencies in Antarctica are similar to the challenges that astronauts will face managing a medical emergency during long duration spaceflight. The current medical model used for missions to low earth orbit will not be suitable as we move to longer duration mission profiles with more isolated teams, traveling further from Earth, with substantially longer evacuations times. There are limited data available from a spaceflight setting on the type and frequency of medical emergencies that could be expected for long duration mission profiles. A systematic literature search was undertaken to catalogue all publicly available medical emergencies in Antarctica between 1772 and 2022. The rate of medical emergencies was calculated based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, categories. We estimate that, between 1772 and 2022, a total of 384,539 expeditioners travelled to Antarctica for a total of 149,642 person years. This compares to only 165-person years of experience in space from 1961 to 2022. Medical emergencies involving injury and poisoning occur most frequently at a rate of 1 per 357 person-years, however the range of medical emergencies in Antarctica across other areas of medicine is extensive. The data gathered from this review will assist international space agencies with better understanding the type and frequency of medical events that could be expected in long duration spaceflight.