Does shivering thermogenesis enhance the individuals ability to maintain rectal temperature during immersion in cold water?
Shivering thermogenesis may enable individuals to maintain rectal temperature during acute cold exposure. This data analysis revisited this hypothesis and compared previously published data with unpublished data from our laboratory on those subjects that were terminated from cold water immersion early because of a reduction in rectal temperature (T(re)) – 35 degrees C. T(re), mean skin temperature (T(sk)), and oxygen uptake (VO2) were recorded at 5, 30, 60, and 90 min of immersion and were used to calculate 3delta readings for each exposure, that is, deltaT(30) minus T5, T60 minus T(30), and T(90) minus T(60). Single group t-tests were used to examine differences in deltaT(re), deltaT(sk), and deltaVO2 between the published data (PD) group and the individual subjects who were terminated early (TE) at each of three water temperatures (18 degrees C, 22 degrees C, 26 degrees C). For deltaVO2 the TE subjects were dichotomized by fatness (low percent fat, 8%-12%; or high percent fat, 18%-22
