title: Cold intolerance of the hand measured by the CISS questionnaire in a normative study population.
abstract: Cold intolerance has been recognized as one of the most disabling sequelae of upper extremity trauma, especially when neurovascular structures are involved. In this study, we aimed to describe cold intolerance in a normative study population, validate the Cold Intolerance Symptom Severity (CISS) questionnaire and define the threshold for abnormal cold intolerance. One hundred and eight volunteers participated in our study. In addition to the CISS score, information about age, gender and previous surgery or trauma to the upper extremity was obtained. There were no volunteers with previous peripheral nerve injury and subjects with a history of Raynaud's disease, upper extremity injury or surgery were excluded (n=40). The CISS scores of the study population (n=68) averaged 12.9 (SD 8.2). Age and gender were not correlated with CISS score. The upper 95% confidence interval of the CISS scores for healthy subjects is about 30. We suggest this value as a threshold for pathological cold intolerance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam and Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. AleidRuijs@hotmail.com
authors.forename: A C J
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ruijs
authors.forename: J-B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Jaquet
authors.forename: H A M
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Daanen
authors.forename: S E R
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hovius
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013697:Thermosensing / Q000502:physiology*