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Hot Water Immersion as a Heat Acclimation Strategy in Older Adults

NCT05838612 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 12

Last updated 2024-07-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Aging is associated with impairments in heat loss responses of skin blood flow and sweating leading to reductions in whole-body heat loss. Consequently, older adults store more body heat and experience greater elevations in core temperature during heat exposure at rest and during exercise. This maladaptive response occurs in adults as young as 40 years of age. Recently, heat acclimation associated with repeated bouts of exercise in the heat performed over 7 successive days has been shown to enhance whole-body heat loss in older adults, leading to a reduction in body heat storage. However, performing exercise in the heat may not be well tolerated or feasible for many older adults. Passive heat acclimation, such as the use of warm-water immersion may be an effective, alternative method to enhance heat-loss capacity in older adults. Thus, the following study aims to assess the effectiveness of a 7-day warm-water immersion (\~40°C) protocol in enhancing whole-body heat loss in older adults. Warm-water immersion will consist of a one-hour immersion in warm water with core temperature clamped at 38.5°C. Improvements in whole-body heat loss will be assessed during an incremental exercise protocol performed in dry heat (i.e., 40°C, \~15% relative humidity) prior to and following the 7-day passive heat acclimation protocol. The incremental exercise protocol will consist of three 30 minute exercise bouts performed at increasing fixed rates of metabolic heat production (i.e., 150, 200, and 250 W/m2), each separated by 15-minutes of recovery, with exception final recovery will be 1-hour in duration) performed in a direct calorimeter (a device that provides a precise measurement of the heat dissipated by the human body).

Conditions

  • Hyperthermia
  • Heat Exposure
  • Heat Stress
  • Thermoregulation
  • Aging

Interventions

OTHER

Heat acclimation

Participants will complete a 7-day passive heat acclimation protocol consisting of immersion in warm water (\~40°C) for 1 hour over 7 consecutive days.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Ottawa

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Glen P Kenny, PhD. · University of Ottawa

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
60 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
MALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-04-29
Primary Completion
2023-02-16
Completion
2023-02-16

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05838612 on ClinicalTrials.gov