China has set up a database of acute altitude sickness that leads the world in terms of the number, variety and source distribution of samples, the Beijing-based PLA Daily reported on November 5.

The database was established by Xinqiao Hospital, affiliated to the Third Military Medical University in southwest China's Chongqing, said the media outlet for the Chinese army.

The 20,000-strong data set of bodily functions and blood samples was collected by more than 60 doctors and professors from the hospital, who had been monitoring people traveling from the Chengdu Plains to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in various vehicles since 2011.

It will facilitate research into dramatically reducing the morbidity and fatality of altitude sickness, according to the newspaper.