Efficacy of Cooling Centers for Mitigating Physiological Strain in Older Adults during Daylong Heat Exposure: A Laboratory-Based Heat Wave Simulation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, recommend that heat-vulnerable older adults without home air-conditioning should visit cooling centers or other air-conditioned locations (e.g., a shopping mall) during heat waves. However, experimental evidence supporting the effectiveness of brief air-conditioning is lacking.

Objective

We evaluated whether brief exposure to an air-conditioned environment, as experienced in a cooling center, was effective for limiting physiological strain in older adults during a daylong laboratory-based heat wave simulation.

Methods

Forty adults 64-79 years of age underwent a 9-h simulated heat wave (heat index: 37°C) with (cooling group, n=20) or without (con

SUBMITTER: Meade RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10234508 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature