Trauma and Poisoning
Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss in Understanding Medical Terms, 2020
Excessively low temperatures also cause injury. Frostnip leaves firm, white, cold areas on the face, ears, or extremities after exposure to cold. If it is not promptly treated, frostnip may cause peeling or blistering similar to sunburn. In frostbite, which is more severe than frostnip, the injured area is hard, white, and numb; as the area is warmed, it becomes blotchy-red, swollen, and painful. Severe frostbite can lead to gangrene. Cold exposure also can lead to a decrease in core body temperature, which is called hypothermia or severe exposure and which requires emergency treatment to slowly warm the patient and support respiration and circulation.
Heat, cold and electrical trauma
Jason Payne-James, Richard Jones in Simpson's Forensic Medicine, 2019
Generally, the elderly, children and trauma patients are susceptible to hypothermia. Hypothermia can be classified into mild (core temperature 32°C–35°C compared with a normal of 37.5°C), moderate (30°C–32°C), or severe (<30°C). Below a core temperature of 32°C, shivering ceases and thus this extra muscle activity will no longer generate heat, worsening the situation. Unconsciousness may occur between core temperatures of 27°C and 30°C, while ventricular fibrillation and apnoea occur at core temperatures below 27°C. Those who may be prone to developing hypothermia are those in extreme weather conditions (e.g., climbers, walkers, skiers, sailors), homeless people who are unable to find shelter, heavy drug and/or alcohol users (collapsing in the open) and those who have been immersed in cold water. Those who have been subject to severe trauma (e.g., trapped in a motor vehicle requiring extrication) are prone to hypothermia whilst they are being recovered.
Healthy ageing, disaster mitigation and disaster risk reduction
Emily Ying Yang Chan in Disaster Public Health and Older People, 2019
For households with older people, disaster preparedness bags should include geriatrics items. In addition to the general health and well-being maintaining items (as highlighted in Figure 9.1 and Chapter 6), some geriatric-specific items are highlighted in the disaster preparedness bag for older people in consideration of the group’s vulnerabilities. Hearing aids with related extra batteries and eyes glasses enable older people to reach distribution points and access assistance more easily as well as prepare their own food (HAI, 2014a). Emergency stockpiles must include common medications for diabetes and heart diseases that are relevant to older people (HAI, 2014a). It is noteworthy that the body temperature of older people tends to be lower because of their reduced ability to regulate temperature (Fox, Woodward, Exton-Smith, Green, Donnison, & Wicks, 1973). To prevent hypothermia, a warm blanket and warm clothing are a must. As older people are more likely to have urinary incontinence (Diokno, Brock, Brown, & Herzog, 1986) and as lower limb injuries are common as health consequences after earthquake, sanitary wares like nappies are recommended. Figure 9.2 illustrates an example of disaster preparedness bag for older people (refer also to HAI, 2012a).
A mathematical model to study thermoregulation and heat-transfer processes in hypothermic neonates under variable physiological parameters
Published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2023
Saqib Mubarak, M. A. Khanday
Hypothermia is a decrease in the body core temperature. It has negative effects for both term and preterm neonates. Due to insufficient and premature body defence system, neonates cannot resist hypothermic situation. Term-babies have several protective factors which prevent this abnormal decay in their body temperature. They develop brown fat in the last few weeks of gestation. This brown fat burns in order to produce heat in their bodies. They also have protection of more subcutaneous fat which helps them to insulate from the cold around them. But term-babies are still prone to hypothermia because they cannot shiver, as no neonate is capable of shivering. So term-babies can become hypothermic if they are exposed to too much cold or they are sick. During sickness, their brain does not work properly to regulate the body’s physiological processes. So term-babies become hypothermic without any apparent cause. Moreover, if the neonates are septic, their body temperature is usually low instead of high. Other factors by which they become hypothermic are through the problems with their brain such as asphyxia or meningitis and exposure to cold. When the baby is severely septic, the temperature can fluctuate up and down (see Guyton 2000; Keener and Sneyd 2009).
Heat distribution and the condition of hypothermia in the multi-layered human head: A mathematical model
Published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2023
Ahsan Ul Haq Lone, M.A. Khanday, Saqib Mubarak, Feroze A. Reshi
Variation in the temperature of human head exposed to external cold temperature at different qm (metabolic heat generation) values was plotted against time, as shown in Figure 2. The resulting graph indicates decrease in the temperature of the human head with prolonged exposure to cold environment. This is in consonance with the clinical finding of hypothermia, where the body temperature lowers by about 1–2 degrees than the normal and emerges as a medical condition. The speedy decrease in temperature of head on exposure to cold environment reflects the vulnerability of head to the hypothermia-induced impairment in the body. The variation of temperature in the human head in relation to axial distance from the core of the head also shows decrease in the temperature (Figure 3). This result garners support from the biological organisation of the head, in which the core is insulated from the surrounding environment by multiple protections, with scalp rather directly interfacing with the external environs. As a result, the scalp experiences the temperature more severely than the inner tissues/compartments of the head. The insulating layers of the core head are likely to succumb to the continued exposure of head to cold atmospheric temperature. Continuous exposure of head surface to the cold temperature gradually results in decrease in the temperature of core head 2–3 degrees lower than the normal body temperature. Such a condition is clinically marked as the manifestation of hypothermia.
Hypothermia in the Combat Trauma Population
Published in Prehospital Emergency Care, 2022
Steven G. Schauer, Michael D. April, Andrew D. Fisher, Wells L. Weymouth, Joseph K. Maddry, Kevin R. Gillespie, Jose Salinas, Andrew P. Cap
Overall, our findings highlight the combined, multifactorial environmental, physiological/metabolic, and interventional causes of hypothermia. First, the casualty is in an adrenaline-surge state that eventually depletes his or her ability to augment metabolic and physiologic processes to combat hypothermia. Second, we perform medical procedures as part of resuscitation that have secondary effects placing the casualty at risk for hypothermia, such as infusion of fluids that are not euthermic or interventions that bypass physiologic processes intended to keep the body warm such as intubation and sedation. Lastly, our current methods to combat hypothermia are inadequate against the multifactorial events that led to the hypothermia in the first place. Future scientific and engineering developments will likely be targeted at multiple aspects of prevention and intervention for hypothermia beyond that of a passive or active external warming system.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Alcohol Intoxication
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Body Temperature
- Cardiac Arrest
- Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
- Thermoregulation
- Cardiopulmonary Bypass
- Hypoglycemia
- Body Temperature
- Shivering
- Intravenous Therapy