Accidental hypothermia: the effect of initial body temperatures and physique on the rate of rewarming

Abstract

After cooling in sea water, 14 subjects having varied core temperatures were rewarmed by inhalation of saturated air at 44 degrees C. Multiple linear regression analyses were computed for best possible subsets relating rectal and tympanic rewarming rates, phi i (i = R, T), to physiological and anthropometric measures. It was found that there was a good correlation between phi i and metabolic or ventilatory rates (0.61 less than r less than 0.74). Rewarming rates phi i could be more closely predicted by a combination of initial core temperatures and (height/weight)0.5 or by a combination of initial core temperatures and initial skin temperatures (0.75 less than r less than 0.88). The effectiveness of inhalation rewarming has been challenged and experimental studies appear contradictory. It is shown that the different inhalation rewarming rates measured are predictable and can be explained largely in physiological terms.