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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]).
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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 

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