Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T15:27:29.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physiological Evaluation of Cooling Devices in Conjunction With Personal Protective Ensembles Recommended for Use in West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2017

Tyler Quinn ,
Jung-Hyun Kim ,
Amanda Strauch ,
Tianzhou Wu ,
Jeffery Powell ,
Raymond Roberge ,
Ronald Shaffer  and
Aitor Coca
Tyler Quinn
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jung-Hyun Kim
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Amanda Strauch
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Tianzhou Wu
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jeffery Powell
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Raymond Roberge
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ronald Shaffer
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Aitor Coca*
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Aitor Coca, PhD, NPPTL, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236 (e-mail [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Cooling devices (CDs) worn under personal protective equipment (PPE) can alleviate some of the heat stress faced by health care workers responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Methods

Six healthy, young individuals were tested while wearing 4 different CDs or no cooling (control) under PPE in an environmental chamber (32°C/92% relative humidity) while walking (3 METs, 2.5 mph, 0% grade) on a treadmill for 60 minutes. Exercise was preceded by a 15-minute stabilization period and a 15-minute donning period.

Results

The control condition resulted in a significantly higher rectal temperature (Tre) at the end of the exercise than did all CD conditions (CD1, P=0.004; CD2, P=0.01; CD3, P=0.000; CD4, P=0.000) with CD1 and CD2 resulting in a higher Tre than CD3 and CD4 (P<0.05). The control condition resulted in a higher heart rate (HR) at the end of exercise than did the CD3 (P=0.01) and CD4 (P=0.009) conditions, whereas the HR of the CD1 and CD2 conditions was higher than that of the CD3 and CD4 conditions (P<0.05). Weight loss in the control condition was higher than in the CD3 (P=0.003) and CD4 (P=0.01) conditions. Significant differences in subjective measurements of thermal stress were found across conditions and time.

Conclusions

Use of CDs can be advantageous in decreasing the negative physiological and subjective responses to the heat stress encountered by health care workers wearing PPE in hot and humid environments. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:573–579)

Keywords

environmental exposureextreme heatemergency preparednessdisease outbreaksemergency medicine
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 11 , Issue 5 , October 2017 , pp. 573 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. de Almeida, R, Veiga, MM, de Castro, MDF, et al. Thermal comfort and personal protective equipment (PPE). Work. 2011;41:4979-4982.Google Scholar
2. Havenith, G, den Hartog, E, Martini, S. Heat stress in chemical protective clothing: porosity and vapour resistance. Ergonomics. 2011;54(5):497-507. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2011.558638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Guidance on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) To Be Used By Healthcare Workers during Management of Patients with Confirmed Ebola or Persons under Investigation (PUIs) for Ebola Who Are Clinically Unstable or Have Bleeding, Vomiting, or Diarrhea in US Hospitals, Including Procedures for Donning and Doffing PPE. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/healthcare-us/ppe/guidance.html. Last updated August 27, 2015. AccessedGoogle Scholar
4. Chertow, DS, Kleine, C, Edwards, JK, et al. Ebola virus disease in West Africa—clinical manifestations and management. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(22):2054-2057. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1413084.Google Scholar
5. Wolz, A. Face to face with Ebola—an emergency care center in Sierra Leone. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(12):1081-1083. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1410179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Coca, A, DiLeo, T, Kim, JH, et al. Baseline evaluation with a sweating thermal manikin of personal protective ensembles recommended for use in West Africa. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2015;9(05):536-542. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. International Organization for Standardisation. 10551, Ergonomics of the Thermal Environment–Assessment of the Influence of the Thermal Environment Using Subjective Judgment Scales. Geneva: International Organization for Standardisation; 1995.Google Scholar
8. International Organization for Standardisation. 7730, Ergonomics of the Thermal Environment–Analytical Determination and Interpretation of Thermal Comfort Using Calculation of the PMV and PPD Indices and Local Thermal Comfort Criteria. Geneva: International Organization for Standardisation; 2005.Google Scholar
9. Borg, GA. Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1982;14(5):377-381. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-198205000-00012.Google Scholar
10. Hancock, P, Vasmatzidis, I. Effects of heat stress on cognitive performance: the current state of knowledge. Int J Hyperthermia. 2003;19(3):355-372. https://doi.org/10.1080/0265673021000054630.Google Scholar
11. Gralton, J, Rawlinson, WD, McLaws, ML. Health care workers’ perceptions predicts uptake of personal protective equipment. Am J Infect Control. 2013;41(1):2-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2012.01.019.Google Scholar
12. Chou, C, Tochihara, Y, Kim, T. Physiological and subjective responses to cooling devices on firefighting protective clothing. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008;104(2):369-374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-007-0665-7.Google Scholar
13. Hasegawa, H, Takatori, T, Komura, T, et al. Wearing a cooling jacket during exercise reduces thermal strain and improves endurance exercise performance in a warm environment. J Strength Cond Res. 2005;19(1):122-128.Google Scholar
14. Kenny, GP, Schissler, AR, Stapleton, J, et al. Ice cooling vest on tolerance for exercise under uncompensable heat stress. J Occup Environ Hyg. 2011;8(8):484-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2011.596043.Google Scholar
15. Lefferts, WK, Heffernan, KS, Hultquist, EM, et al. Vascular and central hemodynamic changes following exercise-induced heat stress. Vasc Med. 2015;20(3):222-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/1358863X14566430.Google Scholar
16. Smolander, J, Kuklane, K, Gavhed, D, et al. Effectiveness of a light-weight ice-vest for body cooling while wearing fire fighter’s protective clothing in the heat. Int J Occup Saf Ergon. 2004;10(2):111-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2004.11076599.Google Scholar
17. Fehling, PC, Haller, JM, Lefferts, WK, et al. Effect of exercise, heat stress and dehydration on myocardial performance. Occup Med . 2015;65(4):317-323. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqv015.Google Scholar
18. Gao, C, Kuklane, K, Holmér, I. Cooling vests with phase change material packs: the effects of temperature gradient, mass and covering area. Ergonomics. 2010;53(5):716-723. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140130903581649.Google Scholar
19. Holmer, I. Protective clothing in hot environments. Ind Health . 2006;44(3):404-413. https://doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.44.404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women in the Labor Force: a Databook. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-databook/archive/women-in-the-labor-force-a-databook-2015.pdf. Published December 2015. Accessed February 13, 2017.Google Scholar