A prospective study on local cold injuries in northern Sweden

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to determine the prevalence and incidence proportion of local cold injuries in northern Sweden, and identify associated factors. It was based on prospective data from surveys in 2015 and 2021 sent to a population-based sample in northern Sweden. Multiple binary logistic regression was performed. The study included 5,017 subjects (response rate 44.4%). The prevalence of cold injuries in the hands was 11.4%, feet 12.6%, and face 19.9%, while the incidence proportion was 1.0%, 1.0%, and 0.9%, respectively. Male gender was associated with incident cold injuries in the hands (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.31–1.28), feet (OR 1.34; 95% CI 1.04–1.73), and face (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.15–2.03); mental stress with cold injuries in the hands (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.16–2.05) and feet (OR 1.39; 95% CI 1.04–1.88); previous stroke with cold injuries in the hands (OR 2.64; 95% CI 1.09–6.40) and face (OR 3.09; 95% CI 1.26–7.56); and Raynaud’s phenomenon with cold injuries in the hands (OR 2.48; 95% CI 1.80–3.41) and feet (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.50–2.87). We conclude that male gender, mental stress, previous stroke, and Raynaud’s phenomenon increased the probability of contracting local cold injuries.

KEYWORDS:

• Cold exposure
• cold injury
• Sweden

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable contributions of Hans Pettersson, Ingrid Liljelind, Bodil Björ, Charlotte Lewis, Ronnie Lundström, Tohr Nilsson, and Jens Wahlström at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, in designing the Cold and Health in Northern Sweden surveys.

Author contributions

KM reviewed the literature, prepared the data, performed statistical analyses and wrote the manuscript. AS conceived the study, participated in data collection as well as critical review of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Source data can be made available upon personal request.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2022.2149381.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Region Västerbotten under Grant 646641, 834331, 939557, 967266, and 967867; and Healthcare Research in Regional Collaboration in the North (Visare Norr) under Grant 939839 and 968706.