Wu Jiansong, Hu Zhuqiang, Han Zhaoxing, Gu Yin, Yang Lin, Sun Boyang
School of Emergency Management & Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China.
School of Emergency Management & Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China.
J Therm Biol. 2021 May;98:102933. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.102933. Epub 2021 Apr 3.
Extremely cold events have occurred more frequently in the past few years. People exposed to extremely cold exposure could suffer the threats of human health and safety like cold stress and injury. This study aims to investigate human physiological responses of exposure to extremely cold environments and the moment of temperature step. The experiments of 12 subjects exposed to three different cold exposure conditions (-5 °C, -10 °C, -15 °C) were carried out in a climate chamber. Most critical physiological parameters, including the core temperature, local skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation, were measured to evaluate human physiological responses. In the particular short term study, the results show that the local skin temperature and blood pressure are the most significant indexes for evaluating the risk of cold strain in extremely cold environment. The finger temperature is a critical index of hand and finger flexibility, and it will lead to serious injuries and reduced manual performance when exposed to below -5 °C for more than 20 min. The high physiological strain at the very beginning moment of cold exposure can significantly affect the ability to make correct judgment and action, and it is suggested that the personnel adapt for 3 min after entering into the extremely cold environment to stabilize physiological parameters and thus enhancing the safety and occupational performance. The experimental data of this study is also of great significance for the development and validation of thermophysiological models.
在过去几年中，极端寒冷事件愈发频繁地发生。暴露于极端寒冷环境中的人可能会遭受诸如冷应激和损伤等对人类健康与安全的威胁。本研究旨在探究暴露于极端寒冷环境以及温度骤变时刻人体的生理反应。在气候舱内对12名受试者进行了暴露于三种不同寒冷暴露条件（-5℃、-10℃、-15℃）的实验。测量了包括核心体温、局部皮肤温度、血压、心率、呼吸频率和血氧饱和度在内的最关键生理参数，以评估人体生理反应。在这项特定的短期研究中，结果表明局部皮肤温度和血压是评估极端寒冷环境中冷应激风险的最重要指标。手指温度是手部和手指灵活性的关键指标，当暴露于-5℃以下超过20分钟时，会导致严重损伤并降低手部操作能力。寒冷暴露开始时刻的高生理应激会显著影响做出正确判断和行动的能力，建议人员进入极端寒冷环境后适应3分钟，以稳定生理参数，从而提高安全性和职业表现。本研究的实验数据对于热生理模型的开发和验证也具有重要意义。
