Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review
Temperature monitoring is essential for assessing neonates and providing appropriate neonatal thermal care. Thermoneutrality is defined as the environmental temperature range within which the oxygen and metabolic consumptions are minimum to maintain normal body temperature. When neonates are in an e...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2023-05-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121231172866 |
| _version_ | 1797827945249636352 |
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| author | Michiko Kyokan Nathalie Bochaton Veena Jirapaet Riccardo E Pfister |
| author_facet | Michiko Kyokan Nathalie Bochaton Veena Jirapaet Riccardo E Pfister |
| author_sort | Michiko Kyokan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Temperature monitoring is essential for assessing neonates and providing appropriate neonatal thermal care. Thermoneutrality is defined as the environmental temperature range within which the oxygen and metabolic consumptions are minimum to maintain normal body temperature. When neonates are in an environment below thermoneutral temperature, they respond by vasoconstriction to minimise heat losses, followed by a rise in metabolic rate to increase heat production. This condition, physiologically termed cold stress, usually occurs before hypothermia. In addition to standard axillary or rectal temperature monitoring by a thermometer, cold stress can be detected by monitoring peripheral hand or foot temperature, even by hand-touch. However, this simple method remains undervalued and generally recommended only as a second and lesser choice in clinical practice. This review presents the concepts of thermoneutrality and cold stress and highlights the importance of early detection of cold stress before hypothermia occurs. The authors suggest systematic clinical determination of hand and foot temperatures by hand-touch for early detection of physiological cold stress, in addition to monitoring core temperature for detection of established hypothermia, particularly in low-resource settings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:56:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb7c970448f24bb48d27dd99344cf45e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-3121 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:56:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb7c970448f24bb48d27dd99344cf45e2023-05-13T16:33:26ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open Medicine2050-31212023-05-011110.1177/20503121231172866Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative reviewMichiko Kyokan0Nathalie Bochaton1Veena Jirapaet2Riccardo E Pfister3Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Geneve, SwitzerlandGeneva University Hospitals and Geneva University, Geneve, SwitzerlandFaculty of Nursing, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, ThailandGeneva University Hospitals and Geneva University, Geneve, SwitzerlandTemperature monitoring is essential for assessing neonates and providing appropriate neonatal thermal care. Thermoneutrality is defined as the environmental temperature range within which the oxygen and metabolic consumptions are minimum to maintain normal body temperature. When neonates are in an environment below thermoneutral temperature, they respond by vasoconstriction to minimise heat losses, followed by a rise in metabolic rate to increase heat production. This condition, physiologically termed cold stress, usually occurs before hypothermia. In addition to standard axillary or rectal temperature monitoring by a thermometer, cold stress can be detected by monitoring peripheral hand or foot temperature, even by hand-touch. However, this simple method remains undervalued and generally recommended only as a second and lesser choice in clinical practice. This review presents the concepts of thermoneutrality and cold stress and highlights the importance of early detection of cold stress before hypothermia occurs. The authors suggest systematic clinical determination of hand and foot temperatures by hand-touch for early detection of physiological cold stress, in addition to monitoring core temperature for detection of established hypothermia, particularly in low-resource settings.https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121231172866 |
| spellingShingle | Michiko Kyokan Nathalie Bochaton Veena Jirapaet Riccardo E Pfister Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review SAGE Open Medicine |
| title | Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review |
| title_full | Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review |
| title_fullStr | Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review |
| title_short | Early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia: A narrative review |
| title_sort | early detection of cold stress to prevent hypothermia a narrative review |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121231172866 |
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