Cutaneous vasomotor control during mild‐cold exposure in young women complaining of unusual coldness

Abstract

In Japan, we often encounter women complaining of physical coldness, especially in the acral portion of the extremities, even under normal temperature conditions. In this study, we examined the cutaneous vasomotor reflex response and thermal sensation during mild‐cold stress in ten young women complaining of unusual coldness (C group) and nine young women not suffering from coldness (N group). The room temperature was decreased from 29.5°C at the 20‐minute baseline to 23.5°C. Skin blood flow (SkBF) was monitored from the calf, dorsal foot, and toe by laser‐Doppler flowmetry. Cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated as the ratio of SkBF to blood pressure and expressed relative to the baseline value at 29.5°C. The mean skin temperature (Tsk) similarly (P>;0.05) decreased during mild‐cold exposure in C and N groups. In the calf and dorsal foot, local Tsk and CVC similarly (P>;0.05) decreased during cold exposure in both groups, while Tsk in the toe was lower in the C group in the later phase of cold exposure. The rating scores of cold discomfort for both the body and lower extremities were greater (P<0.05) in the C group than in the N group throughout the cold exposure. In the C group, the augmented sensitivity of thermal sensation to cold did not accompany the altered cutaneous vasoconstrictor sensitivity of the legs, but was partly due to a lower temperature of the acral portion of the lower extremities.