Finger- and toe-temperature responses to local cooling and rewarming have limited predictive value identifying susceptibility to local cold injury-a cohort study in military cadets

Abstract

The purpose was to evaluate whether a cold-water immersion test could be used to identify individuals susceptible to local cold injuries (LCI). Sixty-five healthy non-injured (N–I) subjects, and fifteen subjects, who were tested either prior to or after a LCI, sequentially immersed one hand and one foot, in 8 °C water for 30 min (CWI phase); this was followed by 15 min of spontaneous rewarming (RW phase). The LCI group showed a lower toe temperature during the CWI phase, and a lower maximum RW temperature of the fingers than the N–I group. However, digit temperatures during the CWI and RW phases exhibited low predictive values for LCI, e.g. results implied that to identify 80% of the LCI subjects, 34–78% of the N–I subjects would also be excluded. Thus, the results suggest that, in practice, hand or foot cold-water immersion tests cannot be used to identify individuals at high risk of LCI.