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Evaluation of the thermal insulation of clothing of infants sleeping outdoors in Northern winter

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Abstract

It is a common practice in Northern countries that children aged about 2 weeks to 2 years take their daytime sleep outdoors in prams in winter. The aim was to evaluate the thermal insulation of clothing of infants sleeping outdoors in winter. Clothing data of infants aged 3.5 months was collected, and sleep duration, skin and microclimate temperatures, humidity inside middle wear, air temperature and velocity of the outdoor environment were recorded during sleep taken outdoors (n = 34) and indoors (n = 33) in families’ homes. The insulation of clothing ensembles was measured by using a baby-size thermal manikin, and the values were used for defining clothing insulation of the observed infants. Required clothing insulation for each condition was estimated according to ISO 11079. Clothing insulation did not correlate with ambient air temperature. The observed and required insulation of the study group was equal at about −5°C, but overdressing existed in warmer and deficiency in thermal insulation in colder temperatures (r s 0.739, p < 0.001). However, even at −5°C a slow cooling (ca. 0.012°C/min) of mean skin temperature (T sk) was observed. When the difference between observed and required insulation increased, the cooling rate of T sk increased linearly (r s 0.605, p < 0.001) and the infants slept for a shorter period (r s 0.524, p = 0.001). The results of this study show the difficulty of adjusting systematically the optimal thermal insulation for outdoor sleeping infants during northern winter. Therefore, the necessity for guidelines is obvious. The study provides information for adequate cold protection of infants sleeping in cold conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We kindly thank the study babies and their families for their participation. We also thank Pertti Tuhkanen for help with the measurement of relative humidity. We acknowledge Emmaljunga Barnvagnsfabrik AB for supplying the pram and Reima OY for supplying clothes for baby thermal manikin measurements. This study was financially supported by Health Science Academic Leaders and Experts, by the Graduate School of Circumpolar Wellbeing, Health and Adaptation, co-ordinated by the Centre for Arctic Medicine at the University of Oulu, and by EVO grants (special state funding for clinical research).

Conflict of interest

The study sponsors had no role in the study design, in the calculation, analysis, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors have no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, FI-90014, University of Oulu, Finland

    Marjo Tourula, Arja Isola & Juhani Hassi

  2. Finnish Post-Graduate School in Nursing Science, Turku, Finland

    Marjo Tourula

  3. Department of Living Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Human Environmental Sciences, Fukuoka Women’s University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Takako Fukazawa

  4. Department of Ergonomics, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Yutaka Tochihara

  5. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland

    Hannu Rintamäki

  6. Institute of Biomedicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Hannu Rintamäki

Authors
  1. Marjo Tourula
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  2. Takako Fukazawa
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  3. Arja Isola
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  4. Juhani Hassi
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  5. Yutaka Tochihara
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  6. Hannu Rintamäki
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Correspondence to Marjo Tourula.

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Communicated by Susan Ward.

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Tourula, M., Fukazawa, T., Isola, A. et al. Evaluation of the thermal insulation of clothing of infants sleeping outdoors in Northern winter. Eur J Appl Physiol 111, 633–640 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1686-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1686-1

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