Forced air speeds rewarming in accidental hypothermia.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the rates of rewarming of forced-air and passive insulation as a treatment for accidental hypothermia.


METHODS
We carried out a prospective, randomized clinical trial in two urban, university-affiliated emergency departments. Our subjects were 16 adult hypothermia victims with core temperatures less than 32 degrees C. A convective cover inflated with air at about 43 degrees C (forced-air group) or cotton blankets (control group) were applied until the patient's core temperature reached 35 degrees C. Members of both groups were given IV fluids warmed to 38 degrees C and warmed, humidified oxygen at 40 degrees C by inhalation.


RESULTS
The mean +/- SD initial temperature was 28.8 degrees +/- 2.5 degrees C (range, 25.5 degrees C to 31.9 degrees C) in the patients who underwent forced-air rewarming and 29.8 degrees +/- 1.5 degrees C (range, 28.2 degrees C to 31.9 degrees C) in those given blankets. Core temperature increased about 1 degree C/hour faster in patients treated with forced-air rewarming (about 2.4 degrees C/hour) than in patients given only cotton blankets (about 1.4 degrees C/hour, P = .01). Core-temperature afterdrop was detected in neither group.


CONCLUSIONS
Forced air accelerated the rate of rewarming without producing apparent complications in hypothermic patients.
Steele
M T
MT
Department of Emergency Medicine, Truman Medical Center, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, USA.
Nelson
M J
MJ
Sessler
D I
DI
Fraker
L
L
Bunney
B
B
Watson
W A
WA
Robinson
W A
WA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000388:Air; D001831:Body Temperature; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017694:Rewarming / Q000379:methods*